On the detectability of turbulence and bulk flows in X-ray clusters

Coolingflows, cluster mergers, and the motions of galaxies through cluster gas with supersonic and sonic velocities must lead to large scale motions of the intracluster medium (ICM). A high-resolution numerical simulation of X-ray cluster formation by Norman and Bryan (1999) predicts cluster-wide turbulence with ν^sub turb^ [asymptotically =]300-600 km s^sup 1^ and eddy scales l^sub outer^ [asymptotically =]100-500 kpc, the larger numbers being characteristic of turbulence near the virial radius, while the smaller numbers pertain to the core. The simulation also predicts the existence of ordered bulk flows in the core with v[asymptotically =]400 km s^sup -1^ on scales of several hundred kpc. In this paper, we consider the observability of such fluid motions via the distortions they induce in the CMB via the kinematic SZ effect, as well as via Doppler broadening and shifting of metal lines in the X-ray spectrum. We estimate |ΔT/T|^sub kinematic^