Turbulent motions and shocks waves in galaxy clusters simulated with adaptive mesh refinement

¹ Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universitá di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy e-mail: vazza@ira.inaf.it
² INAF/Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
³ Ctr. for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, U.C. San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
⁴ Physics Department, U.C. San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
⁵ CINECA, High Performance System Division, Casalecchio di Reno-Bologna, Italy

Received: 19 May 2009
Accepted: 30 June 2009

Abstract

We have implemented an adaptive mesh refinement criterion explicitly designed to increase spatial resolution around discontinuities in the velocity field in ENZO cosmological simulations. With this technique, shocks and turbulent eddies developed during the hierarchical assembly of galaxy clusters are followed with unprecedented spatial resolution, even at large distances from the clusters center. By measuring the spectral properties of the gas velocity field, its time evolution and the properties of shocks for a reference galaxy cluster, we investigate the connection between accretion processes and the onset of chaotic motions in the simulated inter-galactic medium over a wide range of scales.