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College of Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Department of Astronomy Colloquium Series 2006/7

Thursday, October 26, 3:30 p.m.
2015 McPherson Laboratory

Cosmological simulations of clusters of galaxies: status, problems, challenges

Prof. Andrey Kravtsov
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
The University of Chicago

I will describe high-resolution self-consistent cosmological simulations of clusters forming in the concordance Cold Dark Matter model with vacuum energy. The resolution of the simulations is sufficiently high to resolve formation and evolution of cluster galaxies and their impact on cluster gas. We use these simulations to study the effects of galaxy formation on the global properties of clusters, such as the shape of cluster dark matter halo and its density profile, the baryon fractions, gas density and temperature profiles. I will present comparisons of simulations results with the recent X-ray Chandra, Sunyaev-Zeldovich, and optical observations of clusters with highlights of both successes and problems of the models. I will show that despite complexities of their formation and uncertainties in their modeling, clusters of galaxies both in observations and numerical simulations are remarkably regular outside of their core region (~5% of the virial radius), which holds great promise for their use as cosmological probes.
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Modified 2006 Oct 6 [rwp]