Title: Numerical Simulations of Merging Clusters of Galaxies
Abstract: We present results from three-dimensional numerical simulations of head-on mergers between two clusters of galaxies using a hybrid hydro/N-body code. In these simulations, the gaseous intracluster medium (ICM) is evolved as a massless fluid within a changing gravitational potential defined by the collisionless dark matter component. The ICM is represented by the equations of hydrodynamics which are solved by an Eulerian, finite-difference method. The cluster dark matter component is represented by the N-body particle distribution. A series of simulations have been conducted in which we have systematically varied the cluster-subcluster mass ratio between 8:1 and 1:1.