FINDING COSMIC SHOCKS: SYNTHETIC X-RAY ANALYSIS OF A COSMOLOGICAL SIMULATION

We introduce a method of identifying evidence of shocks in the X-ray emitting gas in clusters of galaxies. Using information from synthetic observations of simulated clusters, we do a blind search of the synthetic image plane. The locations of likely shocks found using this method closely match those of shocks identified in the simulation hydrodynamic data. Though this method assumes nothing about the geometry of the shocks, the general distribution of shocks as a function of Mach number in the cluster hydrodynamic data can be extracted via this method. Characterization of the cluster shock distribution is critical to understanding production of cosmic rays in clusters and the use of shocks as dynamical tracers.