Heating the bubbly gas of galaxy clusters with weak shocks and sound waves

Abstract

Using hydrodynamic simulations and a technique to extract the rotational component of the velocity field, we show how bubbles of relativistic gas inflated by AGN jets in galaxy clusters act as a catalyst, transforming the energy carried by sound and shock waves to heat. The energy is stored in a vortex field around the bubbles which can subsequently be dissipated. The efficiency of this process is set mainly by the fraction of the cluster volume filled by (sub-)kpc scale filaments and bubbles of relativistic plasma.

Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters after minor wording changes, 4 figures, 4 pages