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Description
In this study, we investigate the X-ray properties of the intracluster gas and the radio morphology of the extraordinary cluster A2163. We analyze two Suzaku observations of A2163, one in the north-east (NE) and one in the south-west (SW) direction, and use archival XMM-Newton data to remove point sources in the field of view. To compare our findings in the X-ray regime with the radio emission, we obtain radio images of the cluster from an archival VLA observation at 20cm. We identify three shock fronts in A2163 in our spectral X-ray study. A clear shock front lies in the NE direction at a distance of 1.4Mpc from the center, with a Mach number of M=1.7^+0.3^_-0.2_, estimated from the temperature discontinuity. This shock coincides with the position of a known radio relic. We identify two additional shocks in the SW direction, one with M=1.5^+0.5^_-0.3_ at a distance of 0.7Mpc, which is likely related to a cool core remnant, and a strong shock with M=3.2^+0.6^_-0.7_ at a distance of 1.3Mpc, which also closely matches the radio contours. The complex structure of A2163 as well as the different Mach numbers and shock velocities suggest a merging scenario with two unequal merging constituents, where two shock fronts emerged in an early stage of the merger and traveled outwards while an additional shock front developed in front of the merging cluster cores.
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