A Prediction of Observable Rotation in the Intracluster Medium of Abell 3266

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Abstract
We present a numerical, hydrodynamical/N-body model of A3266, whose X-ray surface brightness, temperature distribution, and galaxy spatial- and velocity-distribution data are consistent with the A3266 data. The model is an old (~3 Gyr) off-axis merger having a mass ratio of ~ 2.5 : 1. The less massive subcluster in the model is moving on a trajectory from southwest to northeast passing on the western side of the dominant cluster while moving into the plane of the sky at ~45°. Off-axis mergers such as this one are an effective mechanism for transferring angular momentum to the intracluster medium (ICM), making possible a large-scale rotation of the ICM. We demonstrate here that the ICM rotation predicted by our fully three-dimensional model of A3266 is observable with Astro-E.
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