X-ray observations of distant lensing clusters

Abstract

X-ray observations of three clusters are presented: RXJ1347.5-1145, Cl0939+47, and Cl0500-24. Although these clusters are the in same redshift range (0.32 - 0.45) and act all as gravitational lenses, they show very different properties. RXJ1347.5-1145 seems to be an old, well relaxed system, with a relaxed morphology, high X-ray luminosity, high temperature, high metallicity and strong cooling flow. The other two clusters have the appearance of young systems with substructure and low X-ray luminosity. The optical and X-ray luminosity shows hardly any correlation. A comparison with nearby clusters shows that many properties - like e.g. the metallicity or the amount of subclustering - show a large scatter and no clear trend with time.