Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The failure of purely gravitational models of X-ray cluster formation to reproduce basic observed properties of the local cluster population suggests the need for one or more additional physical processes operating on the intracluster medium (ICM). We present results from 84 moderate resolution gas dynamic simulations designed to systematically investigate the effects of preheating - an initially elevated ICM adiabat - on the resultant, local X-ray size-temperature, luminosity-temperature and ICM mass-temperature relations. Seven sets of twelve simulations are performed for a LambdaCDM cosmology, each set characterized by a different initial entropy level Sᵢ. The slopes of the observable relations steepen monotonically as Sᵢ is increased. Observed slopes for all three relations are reproduced by models with Sᵢ: 55-150 keV cm², levels that compare favorably to empirical determinations of core ICM entropy by Lloyd-Davies, Ponman hot clusters subject to preheating remain good tracers of the cosmic mix of clustered mass components.
Bialek et al. (Tue,) studied this question.