The Average Mass Profile of Galaxy Clusters

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  • 17 March 1997
Abstract
The average mass density profile measured in the CNOC cluster survey is well described with the analytic form nu(r)=A/[r*(r+a)^2], as advocated on the basis on n-body simulations by Navarro, Frenk & White. The predicted core radii are a=0.20 (in units of the radius where the mean interior density is 200 times the critical density) for an Omega=0.2 open CDM model, or a=0.26 for a flat model, with little dependence on other cosmological parameters for simulations normalized to the observed cluster abundance. The measured scale radius of the observed clusters, a=0.27 (with a 95% confidence range of 0.13-0.43), is in excellent agreement with the predicted values. Moreover, the profiles and total masses of the clusters as individuals can be acceptably predicted from the cluster RMS line-of-sight velocity dispersion alone. This is strong support of the hierarchical clustering theory for the formation of galaxy clusters in a cool, collisionless, dark matter dominated universe.

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