| Scaling laws between galaxy cluster properties, such as the x-ray luminosity-temperature relation (L-T), the total mass-temperature relation (M-T), and velocity dispersion-temperature relation (σ-T) reflect the underlying physics in cluster formation and evolution. The differences between empirically determined and theoretically predicted scaling laws can give useful insights into physical processes happening in clusters. To determine these scaling laws, we have developed a data reduction pipeline for clusters observed by the ASCA x-ray satellite to create a sample of 273 clusters and groups with measured x-ray luminosities, average temperatures, and metal abundances. This is the largest such sample yet created and will form a baseline for future studies with improved instruments like Chandra and XMM-Newton.; We compare our ASCA cluster catalog to data in the literature to examine some of the biases and systematics that affect measurement of x-ray properties, and illuminate issues that affect the science results derived from such x-ray samples. We derive the L-T relationship over several orders of magnitude in luminosity, from rich clusters to groups. In combination with data from the literature, we examine the M-T relationship for a variety of mass estimators. We then examine the σ-T relationship and other correlations between the optical and x-ray properties of galaxy clusters. In general, we find that these scaling laws are affected by non-gravitational processes which require additional physics, e.g., energy injection by supernovae. We also see little evolution of galaxy cluster properties with redshift to z ∼ 0.5. |
