ASCA Atlas of the Cluster Temperatures

Abstract

We use ASCA data to obtain two-dimensional maps of the gas temperature in three clusters: A754, A3558 and Triangulum Australis (the maps of A2256, A2319, A2163 and A665, also presented at the conference, have since appeared in [5]). All clusters from our sample show considerable temperature decline with radius at r ~ 0.5-1 h^{-1} Mpc, most prominently in distant A2163 and A665. The three clusters presented here also feature asymmetric spatial temperature variations, which may be naturally attributed to the effects of a subcluster merger. As an example, we show that the Triangulum Australis gas temperature and density maps indicate recent nonadiabatic heating, presumably by merger shocks. Unlike most of the clusters, the systems in our sample lack cooling flows (with the possible exception of a weak one in A3558), thus we may be probing the younger members of the cluster population.