Searching for cool and cooling X-ray emitting gas in 45 galaxy clusters and groups

Abstract

We present a spectral analysis of cool and cooling gas in 45 cool-core clusters and groups of galaxies obtained from Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) XMM-\(Newton\) observations. The high-resolution spectra show FeXVII emission in many clusters, which implies the existence of cooling flows. The cooling rates are measured between the bulk Intracluster Medium (ICM) temperature and 0.01 keV and are typically weak, operating at less than a few tens of \(\rm M_{\odot}\rm yr^{-1}\) in clusters, and less than 1 \(\rm M_{\odot}\rm yr^{-1}\) in groups of galaxies. They are 10-30% of the classical cooling rates in the absence of heating, which suggests that AGN feedback has a high level of efficiency. If cooling flows terminate at 0.7 keV in clusters, the associated cooling rates are higher, and have a typical value of a few to a few tens of \(\rm M_{\odot}\rm yr^{-1}\). Since the soft X-ray emitting region, where the temperature \(kT<1\) keV, is spatially associated with H\(\alpha\) nebulosity, we examine the relation between the cooling rates above 0.7 keV and the H\(\alpha\) nebulae. We find that the cooling rates have enough energy to power the total UV-optical luminosities, and are 5 to 50 times higher than the observed star formation rates for low luminosity objects. In 4 high luminosity clusters, the cooling rates above 0.7 keV are not sufficient and an inflow at a higher temperature is required. Further residual cooling below 0.7 keV indicates very low complete cooling rates in most clusters.