Florence Durret (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris)

"Observational evidence for the evolution histories of clusters of galaxies"

XMM-Newton now allows to map with unprecedented sensitivity the temperature, metallicity, pressure and entropy distributions of the X-ray gas in clusters of galaxies. Such maps have revealed that even when the X-ray emission appears smooth, evidence for old, recent and/or present merging events can be found; they are therefore precious tools to trace the individual histories of cluster formation and evolution.
    Such X-ray data, coupled with observations at other wavelengths (optical, radio), make it possible to trace the formation and evolution histories of clusters.
    I will present and discuss merging scenarios for several objects of our sample.