A SYSTEMATIC SEARCH FOR X-RAY CAVITIES IN GALAXY CLUSTERS, GROUPS, AND ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES

Abstract

We perform a comprehensive study of X-ray cavities using a large sample of X-ray targets selected from the Chandra archive. The sample is selected to cover a large dynamic range including galaxy clusters, groups, and individual galaxies. Using β -modeling and unsharp masking techniques, we investigate the presence of X-ray cavities for 133 targets that have sufficient X-ray photons for analysis. We detect 148 X-ray cavities from 69 targets and measure their properties, including cavity size, angle, and distance from the center of the diffuse X-ray gas. We confirm the strong correlation between cavity size and distance from the X-ray center similar to previous studies. We find that the detection rates of X-ray cavities are similar among galaxy clusters, groups and individual galaxies, suggesting that the formation mechanism of X-ray cavities is independent of environment.