A Gemini view of the galaxy cluster RXC J1504-0248: insights on the nature of the central gaseous filaments.

We revisit the galaxy cluster RXC J1504-0248, a remarkable example of a structure with a strong cool core in a near redshift (<italic>z</italic> =  0.216). We performed a combined analysis using photometric and spectroscopic data obtained at Gemini South Telescope. We estimated the cluster mass through gravitational lensing, obtaining <italic>M</italic>₂₀₀ =  5.3 ±  0.4 ×  10¹⁴  $h_{70}^{-1}$  M_⊙ within <italic>R</italic>₂₀₀ =  1.56 ±  0.04  $h^{-1}_{70}$  Mpc, in agreement with a virial mass estimate. This cluster presents a prominent filamentary structure associated with its brightest cluster galaxy, located mainly along its major axis and aligned with the X-ray emission. A combined study of three emission line diagnostic diagrams has shown that the filament emission falls in the so-called transition region of these diagrams. Consequently, several ionizing sources should be playing a meaningful role. We have argued that old stars, often invoked to explain low-ionization nuclear emission-line region emission, should not be the major source of ionization. We have noticed that most of the filamentary emission has line ratios consistent with the shock excitation limits obtained from shock models. We also found that line fluxes are related to gas velocities (here estimated from line widths) by power laws with slopes in the range expected from shock models. These models also show, however, that only ∼10 per cent of H α luminosity can be explained by shocks. We conclude that shocks probably associated with the cooling of the intracluster gas in a filamentary structure may indeed be contributing to the filament nebular emission, but cannot be the major source of ionizing photons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]