<i>Chandra</i>Reveals Galaxy Cluster with the Most Massive Nearby Cooling Core: RXC J1504.1−0248

Abstract

A CHANDRA follow-up observation of an X-ray luminous galaxy cluster with a compact appearance, RXCJ1504.1-0248 discovered in our REFLEX Cluster Survey, reveals an object with one of the most prominent cluster cooling cores. A β-model fit to the X-ray surface brightness profile gives a core radius of ∼ 30h −1 70 kpc which is much smaller than the cooling radius with ∼ 140 kpc. As a consequence more than 70 % of the high X-ray luminosity of Lbol = 4.3 1045h −1 70 erg s−1 of this cluster is radiated inside the cooling radius. A simple modeling of the X-ray morphology of the cluster leads to a formal mass deposition rate within the classical cooling flow model of 1500 − 1900 M ⊙ yr−1 (for h100 = 0.7, and 2300 − 3000 M ⊙ yr−1 for h100 = 0.5). The center of the cluster is marked by a giant elliptical galaxy which is also a known radio source. Thus it is very likely that we observe one of the interaction