Understanding the evolution of scaling relations between the observable properties of clusters and their total mass is key to realizing their potential as cosmological probes. In this study, we investigate whether the evolution of cluster scaling relations is affected by the spurious evolution of mass caused by the evolving reference density with respect to which halo masses are defined (pseudo-evolution). We use the relation between mass, M, and velocity dispersion, sigma, as a test case, and show that the deviation from the M-sigma relation of cluster-sized halos caused by pseudo-evolution is smaller than 10% for a wide range of mass definitions. The reason for this small impact is a tight relation between the velocity dispersion and mass profiles, sigma(<r) = const * (GM(<r) / r)^1/2, which holds across a wide range of radii. We show that such a relation is generically expected for a variety of density profiles, as long as halos are in approximate Jeans equilibrium. Thus, as the outer "virial" radius used to define the halo mass, R, increases due to pseudo-evolution, halos approximately preserve their M-sigma relation. This result highlights the fact that tight scaling relations are the result of tight equilibrium relations between radial profiles of physical quantities. We find exceptions at very small and very large radii, where the profiles deviate from the relations they exhibit at intermediate radii. We discuss the implications of these results for other cluster scaling relations, and argue that pseudo-evolution should have a small effect on most scaling relations, except for those that involve the stellar masses of galaxies. In particular, we show that the relation between stellar-mass fraction and total mass is affected by pseudo-evolution and is largely shaped by it for halo masses of less than 10^14 solar masses.
The Planck Collaboration has shown that the number of clusters as a function of their mass and redshift is an extremely powerful tool for cosmological analyses. However, the true cluster mass is not directly measurable. Among the possible approaches, clusters mass could be related to different observables via self similar scaling law. These observables are related to the baryonic components of which a cluster is composed. However, the theoretical relations that allow the use of these proxies often are affected by observational and physical biases, which impacts on the determination of the clus…
Uncertainty in the mass-observable scaling relations is currently the limiting factor for galaxy cluster based cosmology. Weak gravitational lensing can provide a direct mass calibration and reduce the mass uncertainty. We present new ground-based weak lensing observations of 19 South Pole Telescope (SPT) selected clusters at redshifts $0.29 \leq z \leq 0.61$ and combine them with previously reported space-based observations of 13 galaxy clusters at redshifts $0.576 \leq z \leq 1.132$ to constrain the cluster mass scaling relations with the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE), the cluster gas mass…
We use deep follow-up XMM-Newton observations of 6 clusters discovered in the XXL Survey at $z>1$ to gain robust measurements of their X-ray properties and to investigate the extent to which scaling relations at low redshift are valid at $z>1$. This sample is unique as it has been investigated for AGN contamination, which ensures measurements are not undermined by systematic uncertainties, and pushes to lower mass at higher redshift than is usually possible, for example with Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) selected clusters. We determine the flux contribution of point sources to the XXL cluster flux i…
A large number of studies have found that the dark matter surface density, given by the product of the dark matter core radius ($r_c$) and core density ($ρ_c$) is approximately constant for a wide range of galaxy systems. However, there has been only one systematic study of this {\it ansatz} for galaxy clusters by Chan (arXiv:1403.4352), who found that the surface density for clusters is not constant and $ρ_c \sim r_c^{-1.46}$. We carry out this test for an X-ray sample of 12 relaxed clusters from Chandra observations, implementing the same procedure as Chan, but also accounting for the gas an…
The hypothesis that the late Universe is isotropic and homogeneous is adopted by most cosmological studies. The expansion rate $H_0$ is thought to be spatially constant, while bulk flows are often presumed to be negligible compared to the Hubble expansion, even at local scales. Their effects on the redshift-distance conversion are hence usually ignored. Any deviation from this consensus can strongly bias the results of such studies and thus the importance of testing these assumptions cannot be understated. Scaling relations of galaxy clusters can be effectively used for that. In previous works…
We use a complete sample of 38 richest maxBCG clusters to study the ICM-galaxy scaling relations and the halo mass selection properties of the maxBCG algorithm, based on X-ray and optical observations. The clusters are selected from the two largest bins of optical richness in the Planck stacking work with the maxBCG richness $N_{200} \geq 78$. We analyze their Chandra and XMM-Newton data to derive the X-ray properties of the ICM. We then use the distribution of $P(X|N)$, $X=T_X,\ L_X,\ Y_X$, to study the mass selection $P(M|N)$ of maxBCG. Compared with previous works based on the whole richnes…
