Growth and disruption in the Lyra complex

Nearby clusters of galaxies, z<0.1, are cosmic structures still under formation. Understanding the thermodynamic properties of merging clusters can provide crucial information on how they grow in the local universe. A detailed study of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) properties of un-relaxed systems is essential to understand the fate of in-falling structures and, more generally the virialization process. We analyzed a mosaic of XMM-Newton observations (240ks) of the Lyra system (z=0.067), that shows a complex dynamical state. We found that the main cluster RXC J1825.3+3026 is in a late merger phase, whereas its companion CIZA J1824.1+3029 is a relaxed cool-core cluster, we estimated for the pair a mass ratio of about 1:2. No diffuse X-ray emission is found in the region between them, indicating that these clusters are in a pre-merger phase. We found evidences of a galaxy group infalling on RXC J1825.3+3026 in an advanced state of disruption. The Southern Galaxy, one of the brightest galaxies in the Lyra complex, was very likely at the center of the infalling group. This galaxy has a gaseous "corona" indicating that it was able to retain some of its gas after the ram-pressure stripping of the intra-group medium. In this scenario the diffuse emission excess observed South-West of RXC J1825.3+3026 could be due to gas once belonging to the group and/or to cluster ICM dislocated by the passage of the group. Finally we identified three high velocity galaxies aligned between RXC J1825.3+3026 and the Southern Galaxy, two of these show evidences of gas stripped from them during infall. We estimate they are currently falling onto the main cluster with infall velocity of about 3000 km/s. Our study of the Lyra complex provides important clues on the processes presiding over the virialization of massive clusters in the local Universe.