Magnetic support of the optical emission line filaments in NGC 1275 Export

@article{citeulike:3150209, abstract = {The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1275, at the centre of the Perseus cluster, is surrounded by a well-known giant nebulosity of emission-line filaments, which are plausibly about \>10^8 yr old. The filaments are dragged out from the centre of the galaxy by the radio bubbles rising buoyantly in the hot intracluster gas before later falling back. They act as dramatic markers of the feedback process by which energy is transferred from the central massive black hole to the surrounding gas. The mechanism by which the filaments are stabilized against tidal shear and dissipation into the surrounding 4x10^7 K gas has been unclear. Here we report new observations that resolve thread-like structures in the filaments. Some threads extend over 6 kpc, yet are only 70 pc wide. We conclude that magnetic fields in the threads, in pressure balance with the surrounding gas, stabilize the filaments, so allowing a large mass of cold gas to accumulate and delay star formation.}, archivePrefix = {arXiv}, author = {Fabian, A. C. and Johnstone, R. M. and Sanders, J. S. and Conselice, C. J. and Crawford, C. S. and Iii, Gallagher J. S. and Zweibel, E.}, citeulike-article-id = {3150209}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2712}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://arxiv.org/pdf/0808.2712}, day = {20}, eprint = {0808.2712}, keywords = {clusters, fields, filaments, magnetic, x-ray}, month = {Aug}, posted-at = {2008-08-23 02:45:33}, priority = {2}, title = {Magnetic support of the optical emission line filaments in NGC 1275}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2712}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3150209 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3150209 N2 - The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1275, at the centre of the Perseus cluster, is surrounded by a well-known giant nebulosity of emission-line filaments, which are plausibly about >10^8 yr old. The filaments are dragged out from the centre of the galaxy by the radio bubbles rising buoyantly in the hot intracluster gas before later falling back. They act as dramatic markers of the feedback process by which energy is transferred from the central massive black hole to the surrounding gas. The mechanism by which the filaments are stabilized against tidal shear and dissipation into the surrounding 4x10^7 K gas has been unclear. Here we report new observations that resolve thread-like structures in the filaments. Some threads extend over 6 kpc, yet are only 70 pc wide. We conclude that magnetic fields in the threads, in pressure balance with the surrounding gas, stabilize the filaments, so allowing a large mass of cold gas to accumulate and delay star formation. TI - Magnetic support of the optical emission line filaments in NGC 1275 KW - clusters KW - fields KW - filaments KW - magnetic KW - x-ray AU - Fabian, AC AU - Johnstone, RM AU - Sanders, JS AU - Conselice, CJ AU - Crawford, CS AU - Iii, Gallagher AU - Zweibel, E PY - 2008/Aug/20/ UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2712 ER -