The co-evolution of galaxies and their surrounding environments in massive galaxy clusters
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- A key yet poorly understood component to galaxy evolution models is the influence of the local environment, and is a particularly important aspect to understanding the evolution in galaxy clusters. Galaxy clusters are not only host to significant overdensities of galaxies, but these galaxies are embedded in a hot, diffuse Intracluster Medium (ICM). The ICM has long been observed to have important and lasting impacts on the properties of their constituent galaxies, which are commonly attributed to a number of unique astrophysical processes such as the stripping of galaxy gas by the ICM due to ram pressure and repeated tidal interactions. The galaxies in turn have also been observed to play an important role in the evolution of the ICM, especially near the centers of galaxy clusters where powerful outbursts from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) can provide a quasi-steady source of heating to the surrounding ICM, a process known as AGN feedback. Although great progress has been made in recent years to understand the connection between galaxies and the ICM, the precise influence of the ICM on cluster galaxies and the astrophysical processes that drive galaxy evolution in clusters are still subject to important uncertainties. It is clear from the data, however, that the predictions of the simplest models of ram pressure stripping, tidal encounters, and AGN feedback are inconsistent with observations; in particular observations taken with the modern generation of X-ray telescopes such as Chandra and XMM-Newton. These telescopes, with their superb angular resolution, large collecting areas, and wide fields of view, have revolutionized our understanding of galaxies in clusters, in particular for AGN. In this thesis, I will present a series of results regarding the nature of ram pressure stripping, harassment, and AGN feedback in cluster member galaxies driven primarily by X-ray observations. These results include multiwavelength observations of one of the most extreme cases of AGN feedback currently known, a mosaic of galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster which are all undergoing different variants of ramp pressure stripping, and the first set of results from one of the largest X-ray AGN surveys ever undertaken with Chandra. All of these results suggest an intricate choreography between the gas reservoirs initially hosted by galaxies and the surrounding ICM, with tests that investigate length scales ranging from 10 kpc to 1 Mpc.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Ehlert, Steven |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics. |
| Primary advisor | Allen, Steven W. (Steven Ward) |
| Thesis advisor | Allen, Steven W. (Steven Ward) |
| Thesis advisor | Abel, Tom G, 1970- |
| Thesis advisor | Funk, Stefan, 1974- |
| Thesis advisor | Wechsler, Risa H. (Risa Heyrman) |
| Advisor | Abel, Tom G, 1970- |
| Advisor | Funk, Stefan, 1974- |
| Advisor | Wechsler, Risa H. (Risa Heyrman) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Steven Ehlert. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Steven Robert Ehlert
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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