Cosmological alignment of clusters of galaxies with their surroundings - a problem for cold dark matter

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/166991· OSTI ID:6275532

West, M J; Dekel, A; Oemler, A Jr

The shapes and orientations of rich clusters of galaxies formed in various cosmogonic scenarios are studied by means of high-resolution N-body simulations and compared with observations. The ellipticities of the main bodies of the simulated clusters are found to be fairly independent of the initial conditions and therefore cannot provide a very sensitive test for cosmology. On the other hand, the orientations of clusters with respect to the galaxy distribution on larger scales are found to provide a very useful test. A pronounced tendency for alignment is found in the pancake scenario, on scales up to at least 10/h Mpc, and presumably further. Weaker, although still significant, alignments are also seen in the n = -2 hierarchical case and the hybrid scenario, while no detectable alignments are found for either the n = 0 or n = -1 hierarchical scenarios, which approximates cold dark matter on cluster scales. 55 references.

• Research Organization: Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor (USA); Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (USA); Jerusalem Hebrew Univ. (Israel); Yale Univ., Hew Haven, CT (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6275532
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 336; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
640106 -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Cosmology
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALIGNMENT
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
COSMOLOGY
DISTRIBUTION
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
GALAXY CLUSTERS
MANY-BODY PROBLEM
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
SIMULATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
TESTING