A comparison of X-ray and strong lensing properties of simulated X-ray clusters

Abstract. We use gas-dynamical simulations of galaxy clusters to compare their X-ray and strong lensing properties. Special emphasis is laid on mass estimates. The cluster masses range between 6 × 10 14 M ⊙ and 4 × 10 15 M⊙, and they are examined at redshifts between 1 and 0. We compute the X-ray emission of the intracluster gas by thermal bremsstrahlung, add background contamination, and mimic imaging and spectral observations with current X-ray telescopes. Although the β model routinely provides excellent fits to the X-ray emission profiles, the derived masses are typically biased low because of the restricted range of radii within which the fit can be done. For β values of ∼ 2/3, which is the average in our numerically simulated sample, the mass is typically underestimated by ∼ 40 per cent. The masses of clusters which exhibit pronounced substructure are often substantially underestimated. We suggest that the ratio between peak temperature and emission-weighted average cluster temperature may provide a good indicator for ongoing merging and, therefore, for unreliable mass estimates. X-ray mass estimates are substantially improved if we fit a King density profile rather than the β model to the X-ray emission, thereby dropping the degree