The Detection of Distant Cooling Flows and the Formation of Dark Matter
Abstract
Cooling flows involving substantial mass inflow rates appear to be common in many nearby rich and poor clusters and in isolated galaxies. The extensive optical and ultraviolet filaments produced by the thermal instability of large flows are detectable out to redshifts greater than 1. It is proposed that this may explain the extended optical line emission reported in, and around, many distant radio galaxies, narrow-line quasars, and even nearby normal and active galaxies. An important diagnostic to distinguish cooling flows from other possible origins of emission line filaments is the presence of extensive regions at high thermal pressure. Other evidence for distant cooling flows and the resultant star formation is further discussed, together with the implications of cooling flow initial-mass functions for galaxy formation and the nature of 'dark' matter.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1086/164223
- Bibcode:
- 1986ApJ...305....9F
- Keywords:
-
- Cooling Flows (Astrophysics);
- Emission Spectra;
- Galactic Evolution;
- Gas Cooling;
- Gas Flow;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Missing Mass (Astrophysics);
- Active Galaxies;
- Galactic Clusters;
- Line Spectra;
- Mass Flow;
- Quasars;
- Radio Galaxies;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Thermal Instability;
- Ultraviolet Spectra;
- Visible Spectrum;
- X Ray Sources;
- Astrophysics;
- GALAXIES: CLUSTERING;
- INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM;
- INTERSTELLAR: MATTER;
- X-RAYS: SOURCES