Studying gas physics in the simulated Virgo cluster

I use a simulated replica of the Virgo cluster to study the gas physics in and around this complex galaxy cluster. This case study serves as pathfinder in the scope of the larger LOCALIZATION project. The constrained hydrodynamical simulation was made by Jenny Sorce using the AMR code RAMSES, allowing us to resolve fluid dynamics in cells down to 0.3kpc scales in the densest regions. Simulating a real cluster permits direct one-to-one comparison with observations, thus helping to strengthen the complementarity between numerical simulations and observations.

Multiple studies explored the physics processes, and in particular turbulence (Lebeau et al. 2026a), at play in the intra-cluster medium of this Virgo simulated replica and in its connected filaments (Lebeau et al. 2025), as well as their impact on its mass estimation (Lebeau et al. 2024a, 2026b) and the definition of its boundaries (Lebeau et al. 2024b). I am currently working on X-ray spectroscopic mock observations to forecast its future observations with NewAthena X-IFU.