In a growing number of clusters radio sources are seen to displace
the thermal ICM in X-ray cavities with scales ~10 kpc.
These 'radio bubbles' are sometimes obviously attached to current AGNs in
the cluster core, but some
radio bubbles appear to be free `relics'. Some are radio quiet, `radio ghosts'.
These observations infer that
outflows from AGNs can inflate bubbles in the ICM, which may then survive
for extended periods on their own.
Such bubbles should be unstable to instabilities, such as the Rayleigh-Taylor
and Kelvin-Helmholtz
instabilities, so their survivability is not clear. One possible way the
bubbles may be stabilized is through
magnetic fields within the ICM and the bubbles. The animations below are
results of a 2D MHD simulation study
designed to explore the roles of weak magnetic fields in stabilizing bubbles.
The bubbles were inflated in a statified, isothermal ICM atmosphere in hydrostatic
equilibrium in a realistic
gravitational field that decreased roughly inversely with height. They were
inflated from a cylindrical region
of radius 2 kpc for finite periods of time ranging upwards from 10 Myr. The
undisturbed cluster magnetic field was
horizontal to the right with a constant ratio of gas to magnetic pressure,
or 'beta'. The magnetic field inside the bubble was circumferential, with
either a counterclockwise or a clockwise sense, and isolated from the ICM
field at the start
of the simulation. Frame counter measures time in 0.5 Myr units.
Simulations of Buoyant Bubble Propagation in Clusters
- gas density; beta=75550; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- magnetic pressure; beta=75550; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- magnetic field lines; beta=75550; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- gas density; beta=3000; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- magnetic pressure; beta=3000; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- magnetic field lines; beta=3000; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- gas density; beta=120; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- magnetic pressure; beta=120; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- magnetic field lines; beta=120; inflated for 10 Myr; CCW bubble field
- gas density; beta=120; inflated for 10 Myr; CW bubble field
- magnetic pressure; beta=120; inflated for 10 Myr; CW bubble field
- magnetic field lines; beta=120; inflated for 10 Myr; CW bubble field