Shapes and Alignments of Galaxy Cluster Halos

dc.creatorKasun, S. F.
dc.creatorEvrard, A. E.
dc.date2004-08-03
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T11:42:21Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T11:42:21Z
dc.descriptionWe present distribution functions and spatial correlations of the shapes of dark matter halos derived from Hubble Volume simulations of a LambdaCDM universe. We measure both position and velocity shapes within spheres encompassing mean density 200 times the critical value, and calibrate small-N systematic errors using Poisson realizations of isothermal spheres and higher resolution simulations. For halos more massive than 3x10^{14} Msun/h, the shape distribution function peaks at (minor/major, intermediate/major) axial ratios of (0.64,0.76) in position, and is rounder in velocity, peaking at (0.72,0.82). Halo shapes are rounder at lower mass and/or redshift; the mean minor axis ratio in position follows <c/a>(M,z) = c_{15,0} [1-α\ln(M/10^{15}Msun/h)] (1+z)^{-ε}, with c_{15,0}=0.631 \pm 0.001, α=0.023 \pm 0.002 and ε=0.086 \pm 0.004. Position and velocity principal axes are well aligned in direction, with median alignment angle $22^\circ$, and the axial ratios in these spaces are correlated in magnitude. We investigate mark correlations of halo pair orientations using two measures: a simple scalar product shows $\ge 1%$ alignment extending to $30 \hinv \mpc$ while a filamentary statistic exhibits non-random alignment extending to scales $\sims 200 \hinv \mpc$, ten times the sample two-point correlation length and well into the regime of negative two-point correlation. Cluster shapes are unaffected by the large-scale environment; the shape distribution of supercluster members is consistent with that of the general population.
dc.description12 pages, 8 figures, submitted to ApJ
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0408056
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0408056
dc.identifierAstrophys.J.629:781-790,2005
dc.identifierdoi:10.1086/430811
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/200859
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleShapes and Alignments of Galaxy Cluster Halos
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