Signatures of Galaxy Formation in the Intracluster Medium

Monday 1 December, 2:30 pm, Curia II
Mark Voit  (Michigan State Univ.)

Abstract: The intergalactic gas in groups and clusters of galaxies bears the indelible stamp of galaxy formation.  Both radiative cooling and galactic winds have altered the baseline configuration of the intracluster medium expected from hierarchical structure formation.  A deeper understanding of these interactions is sorely needed because they alter the scaling relations used to extract cluster masses from X-ray and Sunyaev-Zeldovich observables.  I will discuss how analyses of intracluster entropy are helping us to disentangle and interpret the signatures of these processes and the implications for doing precision cosmology with large cluster surveys.