The long X-ray tail in Zwicky 8338

Abstract

The interaction processes in galaxy clusters between the hot ionized gas (ICM) and the member galaxies are of crucial importance to understand the dynamics in galaxy clusters, the chemical enrichment processes, and the validity of their hydrostatic mass estimates. Recently, several X-ray tails associated with gas that was partly stripped of galaxies have been discovered. We report on the X-ray tail in the 3 keV galaxy cluster Zwicky 8338, which might be the longest galaxy-scale stripping process ever observed. We derive the properties of the galaxy cluster environment and give hints on the substructure present in this X-ray tail, which is very likely associated with the galaxy CGCG254-021. The X-ray tail is extraordinarily luminous (2 × 1042 erg s-1), the thermal emission has a temperature of 0.8 keV, and the X-ray luminous gas might be stripped off completely from the galaxy. From assumptions about the 3D geometry, we estimate the gas mass fraction (<0.1%) and conclude that the gas has been compressed and/or heated.