The bulk motion of gas in the core of the Centaurus galaxy cluster


Journal article


Marc Hisamitsu Ralf Aya Ehud Rozenn Laura Gregory V. Li Audard Awaki Ballhausen Bamba Behar Boissay-Malaqu, M. Audard, H. Awaki, R. Ballhausen, A. Bamba, E. Behar, R. Boissay-Malaquin, L. Brenneman, Gregory V. Brown, Lia Corrales, E. Costantini, R. Cumbee, C. Done, T. Dotani, K. Ebisawa, M. Eckart, Dominique Eckert, T. Enoto, Satoshi Eguchi, Y. Ezoe, Adam R. Foster, R. Fujimoto, Yutaka Fujita, Y. Fukazawa, Kotaro Fukushima, A. Furuzawa, L. Gallo, Javier A. García, Liyi Gu, M. Guainazzi, Kouichi Hagino, Kenji Hamaguchi, I. Hatsukade, Katsuhiro Hayashi, T. Hayashi, N. Hell, E. Hodges-Kluck, A. Hornschemeier, Y. Ichinohe, Manabu Ishida, K. Ishikawa, Y. Ishisaki, J. Kaastra, T. Kallman, E. Kara, S. Katsuda, Y. Kanemaru, Rich Kelley, C. Kilbourne, S. Kitamoto, S. Kobayashi, T. Kohmura, A. Kubota, M. Leutenegger, M. Loewenstein, Y. Maeda, M. Markevitch, Hironori Matsumoto, K. Matsushita, D. McCammon, Brian McNamara, F. Mernier, E. Miller, Jon M. Miller, I. Mitsuishi, M. Mizumoto, T. Mizuno, K. Mori, K. Mukai, Hiroshi Murakami, R. Mushotzky, H. Nakajima, K. Nakazawa, J. Ness, K. Nobukawa, M. Nobukawa, Hirofumi Noda, H. Odaka, S. Ogawa, A. Ogorzałek, T. Okajima, Naomi Ota, S. Paltani, R. Petre, P. Plucinsky, F. Porter, K. Pottschmidt, Kosuke Sato, Toshiki Sato, M. Sawada, H. Seta, M. Shidatsu, A. Simionescu, Randall K. Smith, Hiromasa Suzuki, A. Szymkowiak, H. Takahashi, M. Takeo, T. Tamagawa, Keisuke Tamura, Takaaki Tanaka, A. Tanimoto, M. Tashiro, Y. Terada, Y. Terashima, M. Trigo, Y. Tsuboi, M. Tsujimoto, H. Tsunemi, T. Tsuru, H. Uchida, N. Uchida, Y. Uchida, H. Uchiyama, Y. Ueda, S. Uno, J. Vink, S. Watanabe, Brian J. Williams, S. Yamada, S. Yamada, H. Yamaguchi, K. Yamaoka, Noriko Y. Yamasaki, M. Yamauchi, S. Yamauchi, T. Yaqoob, T. Yoneyama, Tessei Yoshida, M. Yukita, I. Zhuravleva, Marie Kondo, N. Werner, T. Plšek, Ming Sun, K. Hosogi, A. Majumder
Nature, 2025

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APA   Click to copy
Boissay-Malaqu, M. H. R. A. E. R. L. G. V. L. A. A. B. B. B., Audard, M., Awaki, H., Ballhausen, R., Bamba, A., Behar, E., … Majumder, A. (2025). The bulk motion of gas in the core of the Centaurus galaxy cluster. Nature.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Boissay-Malaqu, Marc Hisamitsu Ralf Aya Ehud Rozenn Laura Gregory V. Li Audard Awaki Ballhausen Bamba Behar, M. Audard, H. Awaki, R. Ballhausen, A. Bamba, E. Behar, R. Boissay-Malaquin, et al. “The Bulk Motion of Gas in the Core of the Centaurus Galaxy Cluster.” Nature (2025).


MLA   Click to copy
Boissay-Malaqu, Marc Hisamitsu Ralf Aya Ehud Rozenn Laura Gregory V. Li Audard Awaki Ballhausen Bamba Behar, et al. “The Bulk Motion of Gas in the Core of the Centaurus Galaxy Cluster.” Nature, 2025.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{marc2025a,
  title = {The bulk motion of gas in the core of the Centaurus galaxy cluster},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Nature},
  author = {Boissay-Malaqu, Marc Hisamitsu Ralf Aya Ehud Rozenn Laura Gregory V. Li Audard Awaki Ballhausen Bamba Behar and Audard, M. and Awaki, H. and Ballhausen, R. and Bamba, A. and Behar, E. and Boissay-Malaquin, R. and Brenneman, L. and Brown, Gregory V. and Corrales, Lia and Costantini, E. and Cumbee, R. and Done, C. and Dotani, T. and Ebisawa, K. and Eckart, M. and Eckert, Dominique and Enoto, T. and Eguchi, Satoshi and Ezoe, Y. and Foster, Adam R. and Fujimoto, R. and Fujita, Yutaka and Fukazawa, Y. and Fukushima, Kotaro and Furuzawa, A. and Gallo, L. and García, Javier A. and Gu, Liyi and Guainazzi, M. and Hagino, Kouichi and Hamaguchi, Kenji and Hatsukade, I. and Hayashi, Katsuhiro and Hayashi, T. and Hell, N. and Hodges-Kluck, E. and Hornschemeier, A. and Ichinohe, Y. and Ishida, Manabu and Ishikawa, K. and Ishisaki, Y. and Kaastra, J. and Kallman, T. and Kara, E. and Katsuda, S. and Kanemaru, Y. and Kelley, Rich and Kilbourne, C. and Kitamoto, S. and Kobayashi, S. and Kohmura, T. and Kubota, A. and Leutenegger, M. and Loewenstein, M. and Maeda, Y. and Markevitch, M. and Matsumoto, Hironori and Matsushita, K. and McCammon, D. and McNamara, Brian and Mernier, F. and Miller, E. and Miller, Jon M. and Mitsuishi, I. and Mizumoto, M. and Mizuno, T. and Mori, K. and Mukai, K. and Murakami, Hiroshi and Mushotzky, R. and Nakajima, H. and Nakazawa, K. and Ness, J. and Nobukawa, K. and Nobukawa, M. and Noda, Hirofumi and Odaka, H. and Ogawa, S. and Ogorzałek, A. and Okajima, T. and Ota, Naomi and Paltani, S. and Petre, R. and Plucinsky, P. and Porter, F. and Pottschmidt, K. and Sato, Kosuke and Sato, Toshiki and Sawada, M. and Seta, H. and Shidatsu, M. and Simionescu, A. and Smith, Randall K. and Suzuki, Hiromasa and Szymkowiak, A. and Takahashi, H. and Takeo, M. and Tamagawa, T. and Tamura, Keisuke and Tanaka, Takaaki and Tanimoto, A. and Tashiro, M. and Terada, Y. and Terashima, Y. and Trigo, M. and Tsuboi, Y. and Tsujimoto, M. and Tsunemi, H. and Tsuru, T. and Uchida, H. and Uchida, N. and Uchida, Y. and Uchiyama, H. and Ueda, Y. and Uno, S. and Vink, J. and Watanabe, S. and Williams, Brian J. and Yamada, S. and Yamada, S. and Yamaguchi, H. and Yamaoka, K. and Yamasaki, Noriko Y. and Yamauchi, M. and Yamauchi, S. and Yaqoob, T. and Yoneyama, T. and Yoshida, Tessei and Yukita, M. and Zhuravleva, I. and Kondo, Marie and Werner, N. and Plšek, T. and Sun, Ming and Hosogi, K. and Majumder, A.}
}

Abstract

Galaxy clusters contain vast amounts of hot ionized gas known as the intracluster medium (ICM). In relaxed cluster cores, the radiative cooling time of the ICM is shorter than the age of the cluster. However, the absence of line emission associated with cooling suggests heating mechanisms that offset the cooling, with feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) being the most likely source1,2. Turbulence and bulk motions, such as the oscillating (‘sloshing’) motion of the core gas in the cluster potential well, have also been proposed as mechanisms for heat distribution from the outside of the core3,4. Here we present X-ray spectroscopic observations of the Centaurus galaxy cluster with the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission satellite. We find that the hot gas flows along the line of sight relative to the central galaxy, with velocities from 130 km s−1 to 310 km s−1 within about 30 kpc of the centre. This indicates bulk flow consistent with core gas sloshing. Although the bulk flow may prevent excessive accumulation of cooled gas at the centre, it could distribute the heat injected by the AGN and bring in thermal energy from the surrounding ICM. The velocity dispersion of the gas is found to be only ≲120 km s−1 in the core, even within about 10 kpc of the AGN. This suggests that the influence of the AGN on the surrounding ICM motion is limited in the cluster. X-ray spectroscopic observations of the Centaurus galaxy cluster with the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission satellite show that the hot gas flows along the line of sight relative to the central galaxy.