Morphology of relaxed and merging galaxy clusters. Analytical models for monolithic Minkowski functionals

Abstract

Galaxy clusters exhibit a rich morphology during the early and intermediate stages of mass assembly, especially beyond their boundary. A classification scheme based on shapefinders deduced from the Minkowski functionals is examined to fully account for the morphological diversity of galaxy clusters, including relaxed and merging clusters, clusters fed by filamentary structures, and cluster-pair bridges. These configurations are conveniently treated with idealised geometric models and analytical formulae, some of which are novel. Examples from CLASH and LC$^2$ clusters and observed cluster-pair bridges are discussed.