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We present numerical simulations of galaxy clusters with stochastic heating from active galactic nuclei (AGN) that are able to reproduce the observed entropy and temperature profiles of non-cool-core (NCC) clusters. Our study uses N-body hydrodynamical simulations to investigate how star formation, metal production, black hole accretion and the associated feedback from supernovae and AGN heat and enrich diffuse gas in galaxy clusters. We assess how different implementations of these processes affect the thermal and chemical properties of the intracluster medium (ICM), using high-quality X-ray observations of local clusters to constrain our models. For the purposes of this study we have resimulated a sample of 25 massive galaxy clusters extracted from the Millennium Simulation. Sub-grid physics is handled using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation, thus guaranteeing that the source of feedback in our simulations is a population of galaxies with realistic properties. We find that supernova feedback has no effect on the entropy and metallicity structure of the ICM, regardless of the method used to inject energy and metals into the diffuse gas. By including AGN feedback, we are able to explain the observed entropy and metallicity profiles of clusters, as well as the X-ray luminosity-temperature scaling relation for NCC systems. A stochastic model of AGN energy injection motivated by anisotropic jet heating - presented for the first time here - is crucial for this success. With the addition of metal-dependent radiative cooling, our model is also able to produce CC clusters, without overcooling of gas in dense, central regions., Comment: 23 pages, accepted by MNRAS. Some changes in response to referee's comments. New figures 22 & 23

We have exploited the large-volume Millennium Gas cosmological N-body hydrodynamics simulations to study the SZ cluster population at low and high redshift, for three models with varying gas physics. We confirm previous results using smaller samples that the intrinsic (spherical) Y_{500}-M_{500} relation has very little scatter (sigma_{log_{10}Y}~0.04), is insensitive to cluster gas physics and evolves to redshift one in accord with self-similar expectations. Our pre-heating and feedback models predict scaling relations that are in excellent agreement with the recent analysis from combined Planck and XMM-Newton data by the Planck Collaboration. This agreement is largely preserved when r_{500} and M_{500} are derived using the hydrostatic mass proxy, Y_{X,500}, albeit with significantly reduced scatter (sigma_{log_{10}Y}~0.02), a result that is due to the tight correlation between Y_{500} and Y_{X,500}. Interestingly, this assumption also hides any bias in the relation due to dynamical activity. We also assess the importance of projection effects from large-scale structure along the line-of-sight, by extracting cluster Y_{500} values from fifty simulated 5x5 square degree sky maps. Once the (model-dependent) mean signal is subtracted from the maps we find that the integrated SZ signal is unbiased with respect to the underlying clusters, although the scatter in the (cylindrical) Y_{500}-M_{500} relation increases in the pre-heating case, where a significant amount of energy was injected into the intergalactic medium at high redshift. Finally, we study the hot gas pressure profiles to investigate the origin of the SZ signal and find that the largest contribution comes from radii close to r_{500} in all cases. The profiles themselves are well described by generalised Navarro, Frenk & White profiles but there is significant cluster-to-cluster scatter., Comment: 28 pages, 24 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS following minor revision. Now includes figure showing log-normal scatter in Y-M relation

The XMM Cluster Survey (XCS) is a serendipitous search for galaxy clusters using all publicly available data in the XMM-Newton Science Archive. Its main aims are to measure cosmological parameters and trace the evolution of X-ray scaling relations. In this paper we present the first data release from the XMM Cluster Survey (XCS-DR1). This consists of 503 optically confirmed, serendipitously detected, X-ray clusters. Of these clusters, 255 are new to the literature and 356 are new X-ray discoveries. We present 464 clusters with a redshift estimate (0.06 < z < 1.46), including 261 clusters with spectroscopic redshifts. In addition, we have measured X-ray temperatures (Tx) for 402 clusters (0.4 < Tx < 14.7 keV). We highlight seven interesting subsamples of XCS-DR1 clusters: (i) 10 clusters at high redshift (z > 1.0, including a new spectroscopically-confirmed cluster at z = 1.01); (ii) 67 clusters with high Tx (> 5 keV); (iii) 131 clusters/groups with low Tx (< 2 keV); (iv) 27 clusters with measured Tx values in the SDSS `Stripe 82' co-add region; (v) 78 clusters with measured Tx values in the Dark Energy Survey region; (vi) 40 clusters detected with sufficient counts to permit mass measurements (under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium); (vii) 105 clusters that can be used for applications such as the derivation of cosmological parameters and the measurement of cluster scaling relations. The X-ray analysis methodology used to construct and analyse the XCS-DR1 cluster sample has been presented in a companion paper, Lloyd-Davies et al. (2010)., Comment: MNRAS submitted, 30 pages, 20 figures, 3 electronic tables. The X-ray analysis methodology used to construct and analyse the XCS-DR1 cluster sample is presented in the companion paper, Lloyd-Davies et al. (2010). The XCS-DR1 catalogue, together with optical and X-ray (colour-composite and greyscale) images for each cluster, is publicly available from http://xcs-home.org/datareleases

We use numerical simulations to investigate, for the first time, the joint effect of feedback from supernovae (SNe) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) on the evolution of galaxy cluster X-ray scaling relations. Our simulations are drawn from the Millennium Gas Project and are some of the largest hydrodynamical N-body simulations ever carried out. Feedback is implemented using a hybrid scheme, where the energy input into intracluster gas by SNe and AGN is taken from a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. This ensures that the source of feedback is a population of galaxies that closely resembles that found in the real universe. We show that our feedback model is capable of reproducing observed local X-ray scaling laws, at least for non-cool core clusters, but that almost identical results can be obtained with a simplistic preheating model. However, we demonstrate that the two models predict opposing evolutionary behaviour. We have examined whether the evolution predicted by our feedback model is compatible with observations of high-redshift clusters. Broadly speaking, we find that the data seems to favour the feedback model for z<0.5, and the preheating model at higher redshift. However, a statistically meaningful comparison with observations is impossible, because the large samples of high-redshift clusters currently available are prone to strong selection biases. As the observational picture becomes clearer in the near future, it should be possible to place tight constraints on the evolution of the scaling laws, providing us with an invaluable probe of the physical processes operating in galaxy clusters., Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables. Minor revisons in line with referee's comments. Published in MNRAS

We present hydrodynamical N-body simulations of clusters of galaxies with feedback taken from semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. The advantage of this technique is that the source of feedback in our simulations is a population of galaxies that closely resembles that found in the real universe. We demonstrate that, to achieve the high entropy levels found in clusters, active galactic nuclei must inject a large fraction of their energy into the intergalactic/intracluster media throughout the growth period of the central black hole. These simulations reinforce the argument of Bower et al. (2008), who arrived at the same conclusion on the basis of purely semi-analytic reasoning., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the proceedings of "The Monster's Fiery Breath", Eds. Sebastian Heinz and Eric Wilcots (AIP conference series)

We present hydrodynamical N-body simulations of clusters of galaxies with feedback taken from semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. The advantage of this technique is that the source of feedback in our simulations is a population of galaxies that closely resembles that found in the real universe. We demonstrate that, to achieve the high entropy levels found in clusters, active galactic nuclei must inject a large fraction of their energy into the intergalactic/intracluster media throughout the growth period of the central black hole. These simulations reinforce the argument of Bower et al., who arrived at the same conclusion on the basis of purely semi-analytic reasoning., Comment: 25 pages and 10 colour figures. Accepted by ApJ

We explore a novel approach to the study of large-scale structure formation in which self-gravitating cold dark matter (CDM) is represented by a complex scalar field whose dynamics are governed by coupled Schrodinger and Poisson equations. We show that, in the quasi-linear regime, the Schrodinger equation can be reduced to the free-particle Schrodinger equation. We advocate using the free-particle Schrodinger equation as the basis of a new approximation method - the free-particle approximation - that is similar in spirit to the successful adhesion model. In this paper we test the free-particle approximation by appealing to a planar collapse scenario and find that our results are in excellent agreement with those of the Zeldovich approximation, provided care is taken when choosing a value for the effective Planck constant in the theory. We also discuss how extensions of the free-particle approximation are likely to require the inclusion of a time-dependent potential in the Schrodinger equation. Since the Schrodinger equation with a time-dependent potential is typically impossible to solve exactly, we investigate whether standard quantum-mechanical approximation techniques can be used, in a cosmological setting, to obtain useful solutions of the Schrodinger equation. In this paper we focus on one particular approximation method: time-dependent perturbation theory (TDPT). We elucidate the properties of perturbative solutions of the Schrodinger equation by considering a simple example: the gravitational evolution of a plane-symmetric density fluctuation. We use TDPT to calculate an approximate solution of the relevant Schrodinger equation and show that this perturbative solution can be used to successfully follow gravitational collapse beyond the linear regime, but there are several pitfalls to be avoided., Comment: 49 pages, 9 figures. Shortened to 35 pages, 6 figures. Re-structured with some changed content. Original figures corrected

The dynamical equations describing the evolution of a self-gravitating fluid of cold dark matter (CDM) can be written in the form of a Schrodinger equation coupled to a Poisson equation describing Newtonian gravity. It has recently been shown that, in the quasi-linear regime, the Schrodinger equation can be reduced to the exactly solvable free-particle Schrodinger equation. The free-particle Schrodinger equation forms the basis of a new approximation scheme -the free-particle approximation - that is capable of evolving cosmological density perturbations into the quasi-linear regime. The free-particle approximation is essentially an alternative to the adhesion model in which the artificial viscosity term in Burgers' equation is replaced by a non-linear term known as the quantum pressure. Simple one-dimensional tests of the free-particle method have yielded encouraging results. In this paper we comprehensively test the free-particle approximation in a more cosmologically relevant scenario by appealing to an N-body simulation. We compare our results with those obtained from two established methods: the linearized fluid approach and the Zeldovich approximation. We find that the free-particle approximation comprehensively out-performs both of these approximation schemes in all tests carried out and thus provides another useful analytical tool for studying structure formation on cosmological scales., Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures. Shortened to 19 pages, 7 figures. Re-structured with some changed content. Title changed accordingly