The properties of cooling flows in X-ray luminous clusters of galaxies

Abstract

We discuss the X-ray properties of the cooling flows in a sample of thirty highly X-ray luminous clusters of galaxies observed with the ASCA and ROSAT satellites. We demonstrate the need for multiphase models to consistently explain the spectral and imaging X-ray data for the clusters. The mass deposition rates of the cooling flows, independently determined from the ASCA spectra and ROSAT images, exhibit good agreement and exceed 1000 solar masses per year in the largest systems. We confirm the presence of intrinsic X-ray absorption in the clusters using a variety of spectral models. The measured equivalent hydrogen column densities of absorbing material are sensitive to the spectral models used in the analysis, varying from average values of a few 10^{20} atom/cm^2 for a simple isothermal emission model, to a few 10^{21} atom/cm^2 using our preferred cooling flow models, assuming in each case that the absorber lies in a uniform foreground screen. The true intrinsic column densities are likely to be even higher if the absorbing medium is distributed throughout the clusters. We summarize the constraints on the nature of the X-ray absorber from observations in other wavebands. A significant part of the X-ray absorption may be due to dust.