Hard X-ray emission from the core of the Perseus cluster and the thermal content of the radio bubbles

Summary

We use a very deep 900 ks Chandra X-ray observation of the core of the Perseus cluster to measure and confirm the hard X-ray emission detected from a previous analysis. By fitting a model made up of multiple temperature components plus a powerlaw or hot thermal component, we map the spatial distribution of the hard flux. We confirm there is a strong hard excess within the central regions. The total luminosity in the 2-10 keV band inside 3 arcmin radius is ∼ 5X10⁴³ erg s^-1. As a second project we place limits on the thermal gas content of the X-ray cavities in the cluster core. This is done by fitting a model made up of multiple components to spectra from inside and outside of the bubbles, and looking at the the difference in strength of a component at a particular temperature. This approach avoids assumptions about the geometry of the core of the cluster. Only up to 50 per cent of the volume of the cavities can be filled with thermal gas with a temperature of 50 keV.