STABLE HEATING OF CLUSTER COOLING FLOWS BY COSMIC-RAY STREAMING

We study heating of cool cores in galaxy clusters by cosmic-ray (CR) streaming using numerical simulations. In this model, CRs are injected by the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) and move outward with Alfven waves. The waves are excited by the streaming itself and become nonlinear. If magnetic fields are large enough, CRs can prevail in and heat the entire core because of a large Alfven velocity. We find that the CR streaming can stably heat both high-and low-temperature clusters for a long time without the assistance of thermal conduction, and it can prevent the development of massive cooling flows. If there is even a minor contribution from thermal conduction, the heating can be stabilized further. We discuss the reason for the stability and indicate that the CR pressure is insensitive to changes in the intracluster medium (ICM) and that the density dependence of the heating term is similar to that of radiative cooling.