Craig L. Sarazin, W. H. Vanderbilt Professor

My Picture

Chandra Image of E6 Galaxy NGC 4697
Chandra Image of NGC4697
The adaptively smoothed Chandra X-ray image of the central region of the X-ray-faint elliptical galaxy NGC 4697. The image shows that most of the X-ray emission is resolved by Chandra into about 80 Low Mass X-ray Binary (LMXB) star systems, which contain accreting massive black holes and neutron stars (Sarazin, Irwin, & Bregman 2000, 2001)

Research interests:

Post Doc Position Available:

Curriculum Vitae:


Hydra A Chandra Image
Chandra Image of Hydra A
Chandra X-ray image of the central region of the cluster of galaxies (Abell 780) surrounding the radio galaxy Hydra A. This image shows a radio (green and maroon) overlay on the Chandra X-ray (pink and blue) image of Hydra A. It shows that the radio lobes are displacing and being confined by the 40 million degree X-ray gas in the cluster (McNamara et al. 2000).

Courses taught:

Astronomy 1210 (121): Introduction to the Sky and the Solar System
Astronomy 1220 (124): Introduction to the Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe
Astronomy 2110 (211): General Astronomy I
Astronomy 2120 (212): General Astronomy II
Astronomy 4993 (395): Tutorial: Clusters of Galaxies
Astronomy 4993 (395): Tutorial: X-ray Binaries
Astronomy 4993 (395): Tutorial: X-ray Astronomy
Astronomy 4998 (498): Senior Thesis
Astronomy 5420 (542): The Interstellar Medium
Astronomy 5450 (545): High Energy Astrophysics
Astronomy 6210 (571): Fundamental Concepts in Astronomy: The Sky and the Solar System
Astronomy 6220 (572): Fundamental Concepts in Astronomy: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe

This semester (Spring 2010):

Astronomy 1210: Introduction to the Sky and the Solar System


Older Publications:

My book: "X-ray Emission from Clusters of Galaxies," C. L. Sarazin, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), i-x,1-252 (1988), is now available on-line at Many thanks to Barry Madore and all of the other people at NED/IPAC and to Simon Mitton and the Cambridge University Press for making this possible!

My review paper (on which the book is based) "X-ray Emission from Clusters of Galaxies," C. L. Sarazin, Reviews of Modern Physics, 58, 1-115 (1986), is also now available online at There are several other mirror sites.

Other Older Publications


Preprints and Recent Papers:


  • A Suzaku Search for Non-thermal Emission at Hard X-ray Energies in the Coma Cluster, Wik, D. R., Sarazin, C. L., Finoguenov, A., Matsushita, K., Nakazawa, K., & Clarke, T. E. 2009, ApJ, 696, 1700
  • Shocks and Bubbles in a Deep Chandra Observation of the Cooling Flow Cluster Abell 2052, Blanton, E. L., Randall, S. W., Douglass, E. M., Sarazin, C. L., Clarke T. E., & McNamara, B. R. 2009, ApJL, 697, L95
  • Tracing Multiple Generations of AGN Feedback in the Core of Abell 262, Clarke, T. E., Blanton, E. L., Sarazin, C. L., Anderson, L. D., Gopal-Krishna, Douglass, E. M., & Kassim, N. E. 2009, ApJ, 697, 1481
  • High-Energy Particle Acceleration at the Radio-Lobe Shock of Centaurus A, Croston, J. H., Kraft, R. P., Hardcastle, M. J., Birkinshaw, M., Worrall, D. M., Nulsen, P. E.J., Penna, R. F., Brassington, N. J., Evans, D. A., Forman, W. R., Gilfanov, M., Goodger, J. L., Harris, W. E., Jones, C., Jordan, A., Juett, A. M., Murray, S. S., Raychaudhury, S., Sarazin, C. L., Sivakoff, G. R., Voss, R., & Woodley, K. A. 2009, MNRAS, 395, 1999
  • Hard X-ray Properties of a Merging Cluster Abell 3667 as Observed with Suzaku, Nakazawa, K., Sarazin, C. L., Kawaharada, M., Makishima, K., Kitaguchi, T., Okuyama, S., Kawano, N., Fukazawa, Y., Inoue, S., Takizawa, M., Wik, D. R., Finoguenov, A., & Clarke, T. E. 2009, PASJ, 61, 339
  • Radio Activity in H1743-322, Miller-Jones, J. C. A., Sivakoff, G. R., Migliari, S., Koerding, E., Rupen, M. P., Remillard, R. A., Dhawan, V., Russell, D. M., Maitra, D., Fender, R. P., Markoff, S., Heinz, S., Sarazin, C. L., & Maccarone, T. J. 2009, ATel, 2062
  • X-ray Substructure Studies of Four Galaxy Clusters Using XMM-Newton Data, Zhang, Y.-Y., Reiprich, T. H., Finoguenov, A., Hudson, D. S., & Sarazin, C. L. 2009, ApJ, 699, 1178
  • Luminosity Functions of LMXBs in Centaurus A, Globular Clusters Versus the Field, Voss, R., Gilfanov, M., Sivakoff, G. R., Kraft, R. P., Jordan, A., Raychaudhury, S., Birkinshaw, M., Brassington, N. J., Croston, J., Evans, D. A., Forman, W. R., Hardcastle, M. J., Harris, W. E., Jones, C., Juett, A., Murray, S. S., Nulsen, P., Sarazin, C. L., Woodley K., & Worrall D. 2009, ApJ, 701, 471
  • Comparing GC and Field LMXBs in Elliptical Galaxies with Deep Chandra and Hubble Data, Kim, D.-W., Fabbiano, G., Brassington, N. J., Fragos, T., Kalogera, V., Zezas, A., Jordan, A., Sivakoff, G. R., Kundu, A., Zepf, S. E., Angelini, L., Davies, R. L., Gallagher, J. S., Juett, A. M., King, A. R., Pellegrini, S., Sarazin, C. L., & Trinchieri, G. 2009, ApJ, 703, 829
  • Effects of the Non-Equipartition of Electrons and Ions in the Outskirts of Relaxed Galaxy Clusters, Wong, K.-W., & Sarazin, C. L. 2009, ApJ, 707, 1141
  • Gas Dynamics of NGC 4472, Kraft, R. P., Forman, W. R., Jones, C., Nulsen, P. E. J., Hardcastle, M. J., Evans, D. A., Raychaudhury, S., Sivakoff, G., Sarazin, C. L., & Murray, S. S. 2009, in X-ray Astronomy 2009
  • Long Term Monitoring of the Dynamics and Particle Acceleration in the Jet of Centaurus A, Goodger, J. L., Hardcastle, M. J., Croston, J. H., Birkinshaw, M., Evans, D. A., Jordan, A., Kraft, R. P., Nulsen, P. E. J., Sivakoff, G. R., Worrall, D. M., Brassington, N. J., Forman, W. R., Gilfanov, M., Harris, W. E., Jones, C., Juett, A. M., Murray, S. S., Raychaudhury, S., Sarazin, C. L., Voss, R., & Woodley, K. A. 2010, ApJ, 708, 675
  • Spectacular X-ray Tails, Intracluster Star Formation and ULXs in A3627, Sun, M., Donahue, M., Roediger, E., Nulsen, P. E. J., Forman, W., Jones, C., Voit, M., & Sarazin C. 2010, ApJ, 708, 946
  • XMM-Newton Observation of the Northwest Radio Relic Region in Abell 3667, Finoguenov, A., Sarazin, C. L., Nakazawa, K., Wik, D. R., & Clarke, T. E. 2010, ApJ, 715, 1143
  • AGN Feedback in Clusters of Galaxies, Blanton, E. L., Clarke, T. E., Sarazin, C. L., Randall, S. W., & McNamara, B. R. 2010, PNAS, 107, 7174
  • Non-Thermal and Thermal Hard X-ray Emission from Clusters of Galaxies, Sarazin, C. L., Wik, D. R., Nakazawa, K., Finoguenov, A., Clarke, T. E., Fukazawa, Y., Inoue, S., Kawaharada, M., & Takizawa, M. 2010, in The Energetic Cosmos: from Suzaku to Astro-H, JAXA-SP-09-008E, ed. K. Makishima (Tokyo: JAXA), 78
  • The Merger Dynamics of the Cygnus A Cluster: Direct Detection of the Subcluster Infall Velocity, Wik, D. R., & Sarazin, C. L. 2010, in The Energetic Cosmos: from Suzaku to Astro-H, JAXA-SP-09-008E, ed. K. Makishima (Tokyo: JAXA), 88
  • Suzaku Observations of the Kalpha Lines of Iron from the Intracluster Medium of the Coma Cluster, Sato, T., Matsushita, K., Ota, N., Nakazawa, K., & Sarazin, C. L. 2010, in The Energetic Cosmos: from Suzaku to Astro-H, JAXA-SP-09-008E, ed. K. Makishima (Tokyo: JAXA), 102
  • What is a Cool-Core Cluster? A Detailed Analysis of the Cores of the X-ray Flux-Limited HIFLUGCS Cluster Sample,'' Hudson, D. S., Mittal, R., Reiprich, T. H., Nulsen, P. E. J., Andernach, H., & Sarazin, C. L. 2010, A\&A, 513, A37
  • Evolution of the Radio-X-ray Coupling Throughout an Entire Outburst of Aquila X-1, Miller-Jones, J. C. A., Sivakoff, G. R., Altamirano, D., Tudose, V., Migliari, S., Dhawan, V., Fender, R. P., Garrett, M. A., Heinz, S., K\"ording, E. G., Krimm, H. A., Linares, M., Maitra, D., Markoff, S., Paragi, Z., Remillard, R. A., Rupen, M. P., Rushton, A., Russell, D. M., Sarazin, C. L., & Spencer, R. E. 2010, ApJL, 716, L109
  • Herschel Observations of FIR Emission Lines in Brightest Cluster Galaxies, Edge, A. C., Oonk, J. B. R., Mittal, R., Allen, S. W., Baum, S. A., Bohringer, H., Bregman, J. N., Bremer, M. N., Combes, F., Crawford, C. S., Donahue, M., Egami, E., Fabian, A. C., Hamer, S. L., Hatch, N. A., Jaffe, W., Johnstone, R. M., McNamara, B. R., O'Dea, C. P., Popesso, P., Quillen, A. C., Salome, P., Sarazin, C. L., Voit, G. M., Wilman, R. J., & Wise, M. W. 2010, A&A, 518, L46
  • Herschel Photometry of Brightest Cluster Galaxies in Cooling Flow Clusters, Edge, A. C., Oonk, J. B. R., Mittal, R., Allen, S. W., Baum, S. A., Bohringer, H., Bregman, J. N., Bremer, M. N., Combes, F., Crawford, C. S., Donahue, M., Egami, E., Fabian, A. C., Hamer, S. L., Hatch, N. A., Jaffe, W., Johnstone, R. M., McNamara, B. R., O'Dea, C. P., Popesso, P., Quillen, A. C., Salome, P., Sarazin, C. L., Voit, G. M., Wilman, R. J., & Wise, M. W. 2010, A&A, 518, L47
  • The Impact of Non-Equipartition on Cosmological Parameter Estimation from Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Surveys, Wong, K.-W., Sarazin, C. L., & Wik, D. R. 2010, ApJ, 719, 1
  • Radio and Deep Chandra Observations of the Disturbed Cool Core Cluster Abell 133, Randall, S. W., Clarke, T., Nulsen, P., Owers, M., Sarazin, C., Forman, W., & Murray, S. 2010, ApJ, 722, 825
  • Chandra Observations of the Effect of Radio Sources on the ICM in Cooling Flow Clusters, Blanton, E. L., Sarazin, C. L., Clarke, T. E., & McNamara, B. R. 2010, in Modelling the Intergalactic and Intracluster Medium, ed. V. Antonuccio-Delogu, S. Borgani, & A. Ferrara, in press
    Chandra X-ray/Radio Overlay of Cluster Abell 133
    Chandra Image of A133
    The adaptively smoothed Chandra X-ray image of the central region of the cluster Abell 133 is shown in red. The VLA radio image is shown in green. The yellow region to the lower left is the central cD galaxy, which is a radio source and a peak in the X-ray emission. A red "tongue" of X-ray emission extends from the cD galaxy to the spidery green radio relic source at the upper center (Fujita et al. 2002, 2003, 2004,).

  • Radio and X-ray Interactions in the Core of Abell 2029, Clarke, T. E., Blanton, E. L., & Sarazin, C. L. 2010, in Royal Society Meeting on Clusters of Galaxies, in press
  • The 400d X-ray Survey: Weak Lensing Mass Estimates For Distant X-Ray Clusters Of Galaxies, Israel, H., Reiprich, T., Erben, T., Hudson, D., Schneider, P., Vikhlinin, A., Sarazin, C., & Rines, K. 2010, in Dark Energy, in press
  • Basic Properties of Clusters of Galaxies and the Physics of the Intracluster Gas, Sarazin, Craig L. 2010, in Astrophysics of Galaxy Clusters: Proceedings of the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", ed. A. Cavaliere & Y. Rephaeli (Milan: Societa Italiana di Fisica), 1-49, in press
  • The 400d Galaxy Cluster Survey Weak Lensing Programme: I: MMT/Megacam Analysis of CL0030$+$2618 at z=0.50, Israel, H., Erben, T., Reiprich, T. H., Vikhlinin, A., Hildebrandt, H., Hudson, D. S., McLeod, B. A., Sarazin, C. L., Schneider, P., & Zhang, Y.-Y. 2010, A&A, 513, in press (arXiv0911.3111I)
  • Feedback and Environmental Effects in Elliptical Galaxies, Sarazin, C. L. 2010, Highlight of Astronomy, 15, 20, in press
  • Feedback and Environmental Effects in Elliptical Galaxies, Sarazin, C. L. 2010, in Hot ISM in Elliptical Galaxies, ed. D.-W. Kim & S. Pelegrini (Berlin: Springer-Verlag), in press
  • AGN Feedback in the Cool Cores of A2052 and A262, Blanton, E. L., Randall, S. W., Clarke, T. E., Sarazin, C. L., Douglass, E. M., Anderson, L. D., & McNamara, B. R. 2010, Highlight of Astronomy, 15, in press
  • Spitzer Observations of Star Formation in Brightest Cluster Galaxies, O'Dea, C. P., Quillen, A., Park, J., Zufelt, N., Baum, S. A., Privon, G., Storr, J. N., Edge, A., Russell, H., Fabian, A., Donahue, M., Sarazin, C. L., McNamara, B., Bregman, J., & Egami E. 2010, in The Monster's Fiery Breath: Feedback in Galaxies, Groups, and Clusters, AIP Conf. Ser., in press
  • The Gas Dynamics of NGC 4472, Kraft, R. P., Forman, W. R., Jones, C., Nulsen, P. E. J., Hardcastle, M. J., Evans, D. A., Raychaudhury, S., Sivakoff, G., Sarazin, C. L., & Murray, S. S. 2010, in X-ray Astronomy 2009: Present Status, Multi-Wavelength Approach and Future Perspectives, ed. A. Comastri, M. Cappi, & L. Angelini (New York: AIP Conf. Proc.), in press
  • Investigating Accretion Disk - Radio Jet Coupling Across the Stellar Mass Scale, Miller-Jones, J., Sivakoff, G., Altamirano, D., Kording, E., Krimm, H., Maitra, D., Remillard, R., Russell, D., Tudose, V., Dhawan, V., Fender, R., Heinz, S., Markoff, S., Migliari, S., Rupen, M., \& Sarazin, C. 2010, in Proc. IAU Symp. 275: Jets at All Scales, ed.\ G. E. Romero, R. Sunyaev, \& T. M. Belloni, in press (arXiv:1010.3062)
  • The Gas Dynamics of NGC 4472 Revealed by XMM-Newton, Kraft, R. P., Forman, W. R., Jones, C., Nulsen, P. E. J., Hardcastle, M. J., Raychaudhury, S., Evans, D. A., Sivakoff, G., \& Sarazin, C. 2010, ApJ, submitted
  • X-ray Signatures of Non-Equilibrium Ionization Effects in Galaxy Cluster Accretion Shock Regions, Wong, K.-W., Sarazin, C. L., & Ji, L. 2010, ApJ, submitted
  • Deep Chandra X-ray Observations of Low Mass X-ray Binary Candidates in the Early-Type Galaxy NGC 4697, Sivakoff, G. R., Jordan, A., Juett, A. M., Sarazin, C. L., & Irwin J. A. 2010, ApJ, submitted (arXiv:0806.0626)
  • Measurements of Variability of Low Mass X-ray Binary Candidates in the Early-Type Galaxy NGC 4697 from Multi-Epoch Chandra X-ray Observations, Sivakoff, G. R., Jordan, A., Juett, A. M., Sarazin, C. L., & Irwin J. A. 2010, ApJ, submitted (arXiv:0806.0627)
  • The Nature of Extended Hard X-ray Emission from the Coma Cluster as Observed by the Swift BAT, Wik, D. R., Sarazin, C. L., Okajima, T., Finoguenov, A., Mushotzky, R., Tueller, J., & Clarke, T. E. 2010, ApJ, submitted
  • MUSTANG High Angular Resolution Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Imaging of Sub-Structure in Four Galaxy Clusters, Korngut, P. M., Dicker, S. R., Reese, E. D., Mason, B. S., Devlin, M. J., Mroczkowski, T., Sarazin, C. L., Sun M., & Sievers, J. 2010, ApJ, submitted (arXiv:1010.5494)
  • The 400d X-ray Survey: The Weak Lensing Follow-Up Program, Israel, H., Reiprich, T., Erben, T., Hudson, D., Schneider, P., Vikhlinin, A., Sarazin, C., \& Rines, K. 2010, submitted
  • The Spatial Distribution of Low Mass X-ray Binaries, Globular Clusters, and Stars in Elliptical Galaxies, Sarazin, C. L. 2010, ApJ, submitted
    Chandra Image of Merging Abell 85 Cluster of Galaxies
    Abell 85
    The Chandra ACIS-I image of the merging cluster of galaxies Abell 85. Two smaller clusters to the southwest and south are merging with the main cluster, which as a cooling flow at its center. The southern subcluster has a "cold front" (a contact discontinuity with cooler gas from the subcluster core) at its northern edge. ( Kempner, Sarazin, & Ricker 2002a, 2002b, 2002c).





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