Spectroscopic Deprojection Analysis of Chandra Data of the Galaxy Cluster 3C 129

We report on spectroscopic imaging observations of the nearby (z = 0.022) galaxy cluster 3C 129 performed with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer detector on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Applying a deprojection analysis that fully takes into account the spatially resolved X-ray energy spectra, we investigate the radial variation of temperature and particle density of the intracluster medium (ICM). While earlier data indicated a weak cooling flow and a cool cluster core, the Chandra data suggest that the core is hotter than the rest of the cluster: at the center we infer 7.9 keV, while the mean temperature of all the other ICM shells is 5.1 ± 0.3 keV (all errors at 90% confidence level). Based on the radial entropy profile, we discuss the evidence for shock heating of the ICM at the cluster center. We discuss the possibility of using imaging spectroscopy data of more regular clusters to extract maps of the gravitational dark matter potential.