AN X-RAY/OPTICAL STUDY OF THE COMPLEX DYNAMICS OF THE CORE OF THE MASSIVE INTERMEDIATE-REDSHIFT CLUSTER MACSJ0717.5+3745

Using CHANDRA, we investigate the spatial temperature distribution of the intracluster medium (ICM) within 700 kpc of the center of the massive merging cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745 at z = 0.55. Combining the X-ray evidence with information about the distribution and velocities of the cluster galaxies near the core provides us with a snapshot of the three-dimensional geometry and dynamics of one of the most complex clusters studied to date. We find MACSJ0717.5+3745 to be an active triple merger with ICM temperatures exceeding 20 keV. Although radial velocity information and X-ray/optical offsets indicate that all three mergers proceed along distinctly different directions, the partial alignment of the merger axes points to a common origin in the large-scale filament south-east of the cluster core. Clear decrements in the ICM temperature observed near two of these subclusters identify the respective X-ray surface brightness peaks as remnants of cool cores; the compactness and low temperature of 5.7 keV of one of these features suggest that the respective merger, a high-velocity collision at 3,000 km s(-1), is still in its very early stages. Looking beyond the triple merger, we find the large-scale filament to not only provide a spatial as well as temporal arrow for the interpretation of the dynamics of the merger events near the cluster core, but we also find tantalizing, if circumstantial, evidence for direct, large-scale heating of the ICM by contiguous infall of low-density gas from the filament.