Observed Non-Steady State Cooling and the Moderate Cluster Cooling Flow Model

We examine recent developments in the cluster cooling flow scenario following recent observations by Chandra and XMM-Newton. We show that the distribution of gas emissivity verses temperature determined by XMM-Newton gratings observations demonstrates that the central gas, i.e., where the cooling time is less than the age of the cluster, in cooling flow clusters cannot be in simple steady-state, i.e., ˙ M is not a constant at all temperatures. Based on the measured gas emissivity, the gas can only be in steady-state if there exists a steady heating mechanism that scales as H(T) ∝ T α where α = 1 − 2. That is, a heating mechanism that preferentially targets the hottest and highest entropy gas, which seems very unlikely. Combining this result with the lack of spectroscopic evidence for gas below one-third of the ambient cluster temperature is strong evidence that the gas is heated intermittently. While the old steady-state isobaric cooling flow model is incompatible with recent observations, a ”moderate cooling flow model”, in which the gas undergoes intermittent heating that effectively reduces the age of a cooling flow is consistent with observations. Most of the gas within cooling flows resides in the hottest gas, which is prevented from cooling continuously and attaining a steady-state configuration. This results in a mass cooling rate that decreases with decreasing temperature, with a much lower mass cooling rate at the lowest temperatures. Such a temperature dependent ˙ M is required by the XMM-Newton RGS data and will produce an increasing amount of intermediate temperature gas which will then be reheated during the next heating cycle. We show the compatibility of this model for the cooling flow cluster A2052. The present paper strengthens the moderate cooling flow model, which can accommodate the unique activities observed in cooling flow clusters.