The flat entropy profile at the outskirts of the Abell 2244 galaxy cluster

Abstract

ABSTRACT Entropy is an advantageous diagnostics to study the thermodynamic history of the intracluster plasma of galaxy clusters. We present the entropy profile of the Abell 2244 galaxy cluster derived both exclusively using X-ray data from the low-background Swift XRT telescope and using the Planck y data. The entropy profile derivation using X-rays only is robust at least to the virial radius because the cluster brightness is large compared to the X-ray background at low energies, the temperature is strongly bounded by the lack of cluster X-ray photons at energies kT > 3 keV, and the XRT background is low, stable, and understood. In the observed solid angle, about one quadrant, the entropy radial profile deviates from a power law at the virial radius, mainly because of a sharp drop in the cluster temperature. This bending of the entropy profile is confirmed when X-ray spectral information is replaced by the Compton map. Clumping and non-thermal pressure support are insufficient to restore a power-law entropy profile because they are bound to be small by: (i) the agreement between mass estimates from different tracers (gas and galaxies), (ii) the agreement between entropy profile determinations based on combinations of observables with different sensitivities and systematics, and (iii) the low value of clumping as estimated using the azimuthal scatter and the gas fraction. Based on numerical simulations, ion–electron equilibration is also insufficient to restore a linear entropy profile. Therefore, the bending of the entropy profiles seems to be robustly derived and witnesses the theoretically predicted decrease in the inflow through the virial boundary.