Abell 2146: riding the wake of a merging galaxy cluster

The Chandra X-ray observation of the galaxy cluster Abell 2146 (Russell et al. 2010) has revealed the supersonic passage of a subcluster through the cluster center producing two Mach 2 shock fronts and a gas structure similar to the bullet cluster (Markevitch et al. 2002). We report on integral field observations of the brightest cluster galaxy located behind one of the shock fronts and in the wake of the ram pressure stripped core. Crawford et al. (1999) have detected the optical emission line gas surrounding the brightest cluster galaxy. The galaxy has a large Hα luminosity above 1042 erg s−1 and a large star formation rate (200 solar masses per year, O’Dea et al. 2008). The unique location of the brightest cluster galaxy behind the shock front and offset from the X-ray cool core allows us to investigate the effect of turbulence behind the shock front and disruption of the cooling core on the cool 104 K gas in the system.

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