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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Galaxy clusters are the most massive virialized objects in the universe, and have the potential to be highly accurate probes of cosmological parameters. A fundamental challenge for cluster cosmology is to estimate the masses of these objects using observational proxies such as X-ray luminosity and temperature, which are complicated by the merger history of clusters and the microphysical properties of the intracluster medium. These effects, while frustrating to cosmologists, provide a rich laboratory for exploring the plasma physical processes that are occurring in these massive objects. In this talk I will present recent efforts to understand the effects that several plasma processes - including conduction and AGN feedback - have on the observable properties of galaxy clusters.
