Temperature profiles of a representative sample of nearby X-ray galaxy clusters

Context. A study of the structural and scaling properties of the temperature distribution of the hot, X-ray emitting intra-cluster medium of galaxy clusters, and its dependence on dynamical state, can give insights into the physical processes governing the formation and evolution of structure. Aims. Accurate temperature measurements are a pre-requisite for a precise knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of the intra-cluster medium. Methods. We analyse the X-ray temperature profiles from XMM-Newton observations of 15 nearby (z < 0.2) clusters, drawn from a statistically representative sample. The clusters cover a temperature range from 2.5 keV to 8.5 keV, and present a variety of X-ray morphologies. We derive accurate projected temperature profiles to similar to 0.5 R-200, and compare structural properties (outer slope, presence of cooling core) with a quantitative measure of the X-ray morphology as expressed by power ratios. We also compare the results to recent cosmological numerical simulations. Results. Once the temperature profiles are scaled by an average cluster temperature (excluding the central region) and the estimated virial radius, the profiles generally decline in the region 0.1 R-200 less than or similar to R less than or similar to 0.5 R-200. The central regions show the largest scatter, attributable mostly to the presence of cool core clusters. There is good agreement with numerical simulations outside the core regions. We find no obvious correlations between power ratio and outer profile slope. There may however be a weak trend with the existence of a cool core, in the sense that clusters with a central temperature decrement appear to be slightly more regular. Conclusions. The present results lend further evidence to indicate that clusters are a regular population, at least outside the core region.