Halo Concentrations and the New Baseline X-Ray Luminosity–Temperature and Mass Relations of Galaxy Clusters

The standard self-similar model of galaxy cluster formation predicts that the X-ray luminosity–temperature (LX–TX) relation of galaxy clusters should have been L X ∝ T X 2 in absence of the baryonic physics, such as radiative cooling and feedback from stars and black holes. However, this baseline relation is predicted without considering the fact that the halo concentration and the characteristic density of clusters increases as their mass decreases, which is a consequence of hierarchical structure formation of the universe. Here, we show that the actual baseline relation should be L X ∝ T X α , where α ∼ 1.7, instead of α = 2, given the mass dependence of the concentration and the fundamental plane relation of galaxy clusters. Numerical simulations show that α ∼ 1.6, which is consistent with the prediction. We also show that the baseline luminosity–mass (LX–MΔ) relation should have been L X ∝ M Δ β , where β ∼ 1.1–1.2, in contrast with the conventional prediction (β = 4/3). In addition, some of the scatter in the LX–MΔ relation can be attributed to the scatter in the concentration–mass (c–M) relation. The confirmation of the shallow slope could be proof of hierarchical clustering. As an example, we show that the new baseline relations could be checked by studying the temperature or mass dependence of gas mass fraction of clusters. Moreover, the highest-temperature clusters would follow the shallow baseline relations if the influences of cool cores and cluster mergers are properly removed.