Latent Thermal Instability

Journal article

Abstract Multiscale temperature fluctuations are abundant in the intracluster medium (ICM) outside of galaxy cluster cores (∼100 kpc). Their origin is often attributed to turbulent stirring by subhalos or accreting baryons crossing the virial radius. However, their apparent resistance to mixing and thermal conduction in a collisional medium has not been explained. We propose a new mechanism by which steady-state temperature fluctuations can form and persist outside the cluster core. Local thermal instability, or Field instability, is used to explain filamentary condensates in cluster cores but is usually dismissed outside them because thermal conduction should suppress instability. In weakly collisional or collisionless plasmas, however, thermal conduction can be anomalously suppressed by heat-flux-driven plasma instabilities triggered in the presence of a local magnetic field, leading to two effects: (i) condensates form in a new parameter regime that overlaps with conditions outside the core, and (ii) condensates reach a steady state as in the hydrodynamic limit. This extends the regime of instability-driven fluctuations to over ≳50% (depending on hot plasma temperature) of the cluster. We use one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of condensates to test our analytical ideas.

Authors: Choudhury, PP; Bott, AFA

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Letters More from this journal
• Volume: 1008
• Issue: 1
• Pages: L20-L20
• Publication date: 2026-08-27
• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae9b0c
• EISSN: 2041-8213
• ISSN: 2041-8205
• Language: English
• Keywords: Intracluster medium; Thermal; Plasma; Galaxy cluster; Instability; Cluster (spacecraft); Virial theorem; Thermal conduction