We present the results of seven Suzaku mosaic observations (>200 ks in total) of the nearest non-cool core cluster, the Antlia Cluster (or Group), beyond its degree-scale virial radius in its eastern direction. The temperature is consistent with the scaled profiles of many other clusters. Its pressure follows the universal profile. The density slope in its outskirts is significantly steeper than that of the nearest cool core cluster (Virgo) with a similar temperature as Antlia, but shallower than those of the massive clusters. The entropy increases all the way out to R_200, which is consistent in value with the baseline model predicted by a gravity heating-only mechanism in the outskirts. Antlia is quite relaxed in this direction. However, the entropy inside ~R_500 is significantly higher than the baseline model, which is similar to many other nearby low mass clusters or groups. The enclosed gas-mass fraction does not exceed the cosmic value out to 1.3R_200. Thus, there is no evidence of significant gas clumping, electron-ion non-equipartition, or departure from the hydrostatic equilibrium approximation that are suggested to explain the entropy and gas fraction anomalies found in the outskirts of some massive clusters. We also present scaling relations for the gas fraction (f_gas,200), entropy (K_200), and temperature (T_500) using 22 groups and clusters with published data in the literature. The enclosed baryon fraction at R_200 is broadly consistent with the cosmic value. The power law slope of the K_200-T_500 relation is 0.638+/-0.205. The entropy deficit at R_200 cannot be fully accounted for by the bias or deviation in the gas fraction.
We report on the abundance of metals (Mg and Fe) in the intracluster medium (ICM) at the outskirts (0.2 r200 - 0.8 r200) of the Perseus cluster. The X-ray spectra were obtained in the Suzaku/XIS mapping observations of this region. We employ single temperature models to fit all the X-ray spectra. The ICM temperature smoothly decreases toward the outer region from 6 keV to 4 keV. The Fe abundance is uniformly distributed at the outskirts (~0.3 solar). The Mg abundance is ~1 solar at the outskirts. The solar ratios of Mg/Fe of the outskirts region (Mg/Fe ~4) are a factor of 4 larger than those o…
We present Suzaku observations of the Centaurus cluster out to 0.95r200, taken along a strip to the north west. We have also used congruent Chandra observations of the outskirts to resolve point sources down to a threshold flux around 7 times lower than that achievable with just Suzaku data, considerably reducing the systematic uncertainties in the cosmic X-ray background emission in the outskirts. We find that the temperature decreases by a factor of 2 from the peak temperature to the outskirts. The entropy profile demonstrates a central excess (within 0.5r200) over the baseline entropy profi…
We report results from deep Suzaku and mostly snapshot Chandra observations of four nearby galaxy groups: MKW4, Antlia, RXJ1159+5531, and ESO3060170. Their peak temperatures vary over 2-3 keV, making them the smallest systems with gas properties constrained to their viral radii. The average Fe abundance in the outskirts (R $>$ 0.25R$_{200}$) of their intragroup medium (IGrM) is $Z_{\rm Fe}=0.309\pm0.018$ $Z_\odot$ with $χ^2$ = 14 for 12 degrees of freedom, which is remarkably uniform and strikingly similar to that of massive galaxy clusters, and is fully consistent with the numerical predictio…
We present Suzaku observations of the Abell 98 (A98) triple galaxy cluster system and the purported intercluster filament. The three subclusters are expected to lie along a large scale cosmic filament. With partial azimuthal coverage of the northernmost cluster, we find that the inferred entropy profile of this relatively low mass cluster ($kT \approx 2.8$ keV) adheres to expectations from models of self-similar pure gravitational collapse in the region of the virial radius. There is evidence of extended structure beyond $r_{200}$ to the north of the northernmost cluster, along the merger axis…
The outskirts of galaxy clusters, near the virial radius, remain relatively unexplored territory and yet are vital to our understanding of cluster growth, structure, and mass. In this presentation, we show the first results from a program to constrain the state of the outer intracluster medium (ICM) in a large sample of galaxy clusters, exploiting the strengths of three complementary X-ray observatories: Suzaku (low, stable background), XMM-Newton (high sensitivity), and Chandra (good spatial resolution). By carefully combining observations from the cluster core to beyond r_200, we are able to…
We investigated the gas properties of the galaxy group UGC03957 up to $1.4R_{200} \approx 1.4$Mpc in four azimuthal directions with the Suzaku satellit and performed a spectral analysis of five Suzaku observations of UGC03957 with 138ks good exposure time in total and five Chandra snapshot observations for point source detection. We found a temperature drop of a factor of ${\sim} 3$ from the center to the outskirts that is consistent with previous results for galaxy clusters. The metal abundance profile shows a flat behavior towards large radii, which is a hint for galactic winds as the primar…
Suzaku measurements of a homogeneous metal distribution of $Z\sim0.3$ Solar in the outskirts of the nearby Perseus cluster suggest that chemical elements were deposited and mixed into the intergalactic medium before clusters formed, likely over 10 billion years ago. A key prediction of this early enrichment scenario is that the intracluster medium in all massive clusters should be uniformly enriched to a similar level. Here, we confirm this prediction by determining the iron abundances in the outskirts ($r>0.25r_{200}$) of a sample of ten other nearby galaxy clusters observed with Suzaku for w…
Studies of the diffuse X-ray emitting gas in galaxy clusters have provided powerful constraints on cosmological parameters and insights into plasma astrophysics. However, measurements of the faint cluster outskirts have become possible only over the last few years. Here, we present results from Suzaku observations of the Perseus Cluster, which provide our best measurements of the thermodynamic properties of the ICM at large radii to date. In particular, we focus on the details of the data analysis procedure and discuss the evidence for a clumpy distribution of the gas in the outskirts, which i…
Recently, gas entropy at the outskirts of galaxy clusters attracts much attention. We propose that the entropy profiles could be used to study cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration around the clusters. If the CRs are effectively accelerated at the formation of clusters, the kinetic energy of infalling gas is consumed by the acceleration and the gas entropy should decrease. As a result, the entropy profiles become flat at the outskirts. If the acceleration is not efficient, the entropy should continue to increase outwards. By comparing model predictions with X-ray observations with Suzaku, which show fl…
We present joint Suzaku and Chandra observations of MKW4. With a global temperature of 1.6 keV, MKW4 is one of the smallest galaxy groups that have been mapped in X-rays out to the virial radius. We measure its gas properties from its center to the virial radius in the north, east, and northeast directions. Its entropy profile follows a power-law of $\propto r^{1.1}$ between R$_{500}$ and R$_{200}$ in all directions, as expected from the purely gravitational structure formation model. The well-behaved entropy profiles at the outskirts of MKW4 disfavor the presence of gas clumping or thermal no…
We present X-ray observations of the northern outskirts of the relaxed galaxy cluster A1413 with Suzaku, whose XIS instrument has the low intrinsic background needed to make measurements of these low surface brightness regions. We excise 15 point sources superimposed on the image above a flux of $1\times 10^{-14}$ \fluxunit (2--10keV) using XMM-Newton and Suzaku images of the cluster. We quantify all known systematic errors as part of our analysis, and show our statistical errors encompasses them for the most part. Our results extend previous measurements with Chandra and XMM-Newton, and show …
The relaxed galaxy cluster Zwicky 3146 is analyzed via the SuperModel, a tool already tested on many clusters since 2009. In particular, this analysis is focused on the intracluster medium X-ray temperature data measured by XMM-Newton up to r_{500}. A previous analysis was based on the temperature profile derived from the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect pressure data. The gas mass fraction f_{gas} is obtained from the resulting SuperModel temperature profile extrapolated up to the virial radius R, that turns out in agreement with the steep temperature profiles observed by Suzaku, and from the gas den…
HESS J1809-193 is an extended TeV gamma-ray source in the Galactic Plane. Multiwavelength observations of the HESS J1809-193 field reveal a complex picture. We present results from three CXO and two Suzaku observations of a region in the northeastern outskirts of HESS J1809-193, where enhanced TeV emission has been reported. Our analysis also includes GeV gamma-ray and radio data. One of the X-ray sources in the field is the X-ray binary XTE J1810-189, for which we present the outburst history from multiple observatories and confirm that XTE J1810-189 is a strongly variable type I X-ray burste…
We report Suzaku observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 1795 that extend to r_200 ~ 2 Mpc, the radius within which the mean cluster mass density is 200 times the cosmic critical density. These observations are the first to probe the state of the intracluster medium in this object at r > 1.3 Mpc. We sample two disjoint sectors in the cluster outskirts (1.3 < r < 1.9 Mpc) and detect X-ray emission in only one of them to a limiting (3-sigma) soft X-ray surface brightness of B(0.5-2 keV) = 1.8 x 10^-12 erg s^-1 cm^-2 deg^-2, a level less than 20% of the cosmic X-ray background brightness. We tra…
We present the results of deep 140 ks Suzaku X-ray observations of the north-east (NE) radio relic of the merging galaxy cluster Abell2255. The temperature structure of Abell2255 is measured out to 0.9 times the virial radius (1.9 Mpc) in the NE direction for the first time. The Suzaku temperature map of the central region suggests a complex temperature distribution, which agrees with previous work. Additionally, on a larger-scale, we confirm that the temperature drops from 6 keV around the cluster center to 3 keV at the outskirts, with two discontinuities at {\it r}$\sim$5\arcmin~(450 kpc) an…
Context: Chandra observations of the Abell 3411-3412 merging system have revealed an outbound bullet-like sub-cluster in the northern part and many surface brightness (SB) edges at the southern periphery, where multiple diffuse sources are also reported from radio observations. Notably, a south-eastern radio relic associated with fossil plasma from a radio galaxy and with a detected X-ray edge provides direct evidence of shock re-acceleration. The properties of the reported X-ray edges have yet to be constrained from a thermodynamic view. Aims: We use the XMM-Newton and Suzaku observations to …
We present results from recent Suzaku and Chandra X-ray, and MMT optical observations of the strongly merging "double cluster" A1750 out to its virial radius, both along and perpendicular to a putative large-scale structure filament. Some previous studies of individual clusters have found evidence for ICM entropy profiles that flatten at large cluster radii, as compared with the self-similar prediction based on purely gravitational models of hierarchical cluster formation, and gas fractions that rise above the mean cosmic value. Weakening accretion shocks and the presence of unresolved cool ga…
We present the first measurements of the abundances of $α$-elements (Mg, Si, and S) extending out to beyond the virial radius of a cluster of galaxies. Our results, based on Suzaku Key Project observations of the Virgo Cluster, show that the chemical composition of the intra-cluster medium is consistent with being constant on large scales, with a flat distribution of the Si/Fe, S/Fe, and Mg/Fe ratios as a function of radius and azimuth out to 1.4 Mpc (1.3 $r_{200}$). Chemical enrichment of the intergalactic medium due solely to core collapse supernovae (SNcc) is excluded with very high signifi…
Context. Galaxy clusters are continuously growing through the accretion of matter in their outskirts. This process induces inhomogeneities in the gas density distribution (clumping) which need to be taken into account to recover the physical properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) at large radii. Aims. We studied the thermodynamic properties in the outskirts (R > R500) of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2142 by combining the Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) effect with the X-ray signal. Methods. We combined the SZ pressure profile measured by Planck with the XMM-Newton gas density profile to recov…
We present an X-ray spectral analysis of the nearby double radio relic merging cluster Abell 3376 ($z$ = 0.046), observed with the $Suzaku$ XIS instrument. These deep ($\sim$360 ks) observations cover the entire double relic region in the outskirts of the cluster. These diffuse radio structures are amongst the largest and arc-shaped relics observed in combination with large-scale X-ray shocks in a merging cluster. We confirm the presence of a stronger shock (${\cal M}_{\rm{W}}$ = 2.8 $\pm~0.4$) in the western direction at $r\sim26$', derived from a temperature and surface brightness discontinu…
We present results from a large mosaic of Suzaku observations of the Coma Cluster, the nearest and X-ray brightest hot, dynamically active, non-cool core system, focusing on the thermodynamic properties of the ICM on large scales. For azimuths not aligned with an infalling subcluster towards the southwest, our measured temperature and X-ray brightness profiles exhibit broadly consistent radial trends, with the temperature decreasing from about 8.5 keV at the cluster center to about 2 keV at a radius of 2 Mpc, which is the edge of our detection limit. The SW merger significantly boosts the surf…
Radio relics, elongated, non-thermal, structures located at the edges of galaxy clusters, are the result of synchrotron radiation from cosmic-ray electrons accelerated by merger-driven shocks at the cluster outskirts. However, X-ray observations of such shocks in some clusters suggest that they are too weak to efficiently accelerate electrons via diffusive shock acceleration to energies required to produce the observed radio power. We examine this issue in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 3667 (A3667), which hosts a pair of radio relics. While the Northwest relic in A3667 has been well studied…
We present the results from extensive, new observations of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, obtained as a Suzaku Key Project. The 85 pointings analyzed span eight azimuthal directions out to 2 degrees = 2.6 Mpc, to and beyond the virial radius r_200 ~ 1.8 Mpc, offering the most detailed X-ray observation of the intracluster medium (ICM) at large radii in any cluster to date. The azimuthally averaged density profile for r>0.4r_200 is relatively flat, with a best-fit power-law index of 1.69+/-0.13 significantly smaller than expected from numerical simulations. The entropy profile in the outskirt…
We present the results from the Suzaku satellite of the surrounding region of a galaxy cluster, A2744, at $z=0.3$. To search for oxygen emission lines from the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM), we analyzed X-ray spectra from two northeast regions 2.2-3.3 and 3.3-4.4 Mpc from the center of the cluster, which offers the first test on the presence of a WHIM near the typical accretion shock radius ($\sim 2r_{200}$) predicted by hydrodynamical simulations. For the 2.2-3.3 Mpc region, the spectral fit significantly (99.2% significance) improved when we include OVII and OVIII lines in the spectra…
Studies of the diffuse X-ray emitting gas in galaxy clusters have provided powerful constraints on cosmological parameters and insights into plasma astrophysics. However, measurements of the faint cluster outskirts have become possible only recently. Using data from the Suzaku X-ray telescope, we determined an accurate, spatially resolved census of the gas, metals, and dark matter out to the edge of the Perseus Cluster. Contrary to previous results, our measurements of the cluster baryon fraction are consistent with the expected universal value at half of the virial radius. The apparent baryon…
We report on the results of a $Suzaku$ observation of the plasma in the filament located between the two massive clusters of galaxies Abell 399 and Abell 401. Abell 399 ($z$=0.0724) and Abell 401 ($z$=0.0737) are expected to be in the initial phase of a cluster merger. In the region between the two clusters, we find a clear enhancement in the temperature of the filament plasma from 4 keV (expected value from a typical cluster temperature profile) to $kT\sim$6.5 keV. Our analysis also shows that filament plasma is present out to a radial distance of 15' (1.3 Mpc) from a line connecting the two …
The recent discovery of the unidentified emission line at 3.55 keV in galaxies and clusters has attracted great interest from the community. As the origin of the line remains uncertain, we study the surface brightness distribution of the line in the Perseus cluster since that information can be used to identify its origin. We examine the flux distribution of the 3.55 keV line in the deep Suzaku observations of the Perseus cluster in detail. The 3.55 keV line is observed in three concentric annuli in the central observations, although the observations of the outskirts of the cluster did not rev…
We present the results of an XMM-Newton mosaic covering the central ~200 kpc of the nearby Virgo cluster. We focus on a strong surface brightness discontinuity in the outskirts of the brightest cluster galaxy, M87. Using both XMM-Newton and Suzaku, we derive accurate temperature and metallicity profiles across this feature and show that it is a cold front probably due to sloshing of the Virgo ICM. It is also associated with a discontinuity in the chemical composition. The gas in the inner, bright region of the front is ~40% more abundant in Fe than the gas outside the front, suggesting the imp…
