Substructure in redMaPPer clusters and its impact on X-ray morphology and scaling relations

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Tuomainen, R., Finoguenov, A., Comparat, J., Doubrawa, L.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866908999026212864
author Tuomainen, R.
Finoguenov, A.
Comparat, J.
Doubrawa, L.
author_facet Tuomainen, R.
Finoguenov, A.
Comparat, J.
Doubrawa, L.
contents We statistically quantified the prevalence and properties of substructure in optical galaxy clusters and directly investigated its impact on X-ray morphology and scaling relations, leveraging new data from the DECaLS Legacy Survey and the SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey. We applied the hierarchical density-based clustering algorithm HDBSCAN to the redMaPPer galaxy cluster catalog to identify and characterize substructure from the probabilistic membership assignments. We then cross-matched this sample with the eROSITA X-ray morphology catalog to correlate optical substructure with a comprehensive set of X-ray morphological parameters. Finally, we analyzed the scaling relation between X-ray luminosity and optical richness for clusters with and without substructure. Substructure is a common feature, present in approximately 40% of clusters; a quarter of the full sample exhibits a fractional contribution to richness in excess of 35%. We find a highly significant correlation between optical substructure and disturbed X-ray morphologies, a trend that is strongest for high-mass clusters. The clusters with substructure also drive a stronger redshift evolution in the scatter of the Lx-lambda relation. At low redshifts (z<0.2), they display a systematically higher X-ray luminosity at fixed richness compared to relaxed systems. We attribute the enhanced effect of mergers on X-ray properties at low redshifts to the increased density contrast of low-redshift cool cores and longer substructure survival times, which are possibly due to the suppression of disruptive mixing by effects such as magnetic draping. At lower cluster richness, a discordance between X-ray morphology and the merging state indicates a growing relative importance of active galactic nucleus feedback in governing X-ray morphology.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_25770
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Substructure in redMaPPer clusters and its impact on X-ray morphology and scaling relations
Tuomainen, R.
Finoguenov, A.
Comparat, J.
Doubrawa, L.
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We statistically quantified the prevalence and properties of substructure in optical galaxy clusters and directly investigated its impact on X-ray morphology and scaling relations, leveraging new data from the DECaLS Legacy Survey and the SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey. We applied the hierarchical density-based clustering algorithm HDBSCAN to the redMaPPer galaxy cluster catalog to identify and characterize substructure from the probabilistic membership assignments. We then cross-matched this sample with the eROSITA X-ray morphology catalog to correlate optical substructure with a comprehensive set of X-ray morphological parameters. Finally, we analyzed the scaling relation between X-ray luminosity and optical richness for clusters with and without substructure. Substructure is a common feature, present in approximately 40% of clusters; a quarter of the full sample exhibits a fractional contribution to richness in excess of 35%. We find a highly significant correlation between optical substructure and disturbed X-ray morphologies, a trend that is strongest for high-mass clusters. The clusters with substructure also drive a stronger redshift evolution in the scatter of the Lx-lambda relation. At low redshifts (z<0.2), they display a systematically higher X-ray luminosity at fixed richness compared to relaxed systems. We attribute the enhanced effect of mergers on X-ray properties at low redshifts to the increased density contrast of low-redshift cool cores and longer substructure survival times, which are possibly due to the suppression of disruptive mixing by effects such as magnetic draping. At lower cluster richness, a discordance between X-ray morphology and the merging state indicates a growing relative importance of active galactic nucleus feedback in governing X-ray morphology.
title Substructure in redMaPPer clusters and its impact on X-ray morphology and scaling relations
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.25770