Thermodynamic Profiles of Galaxy Clusters and Groups

The thermodynamic profiles of galaxy clusters and groups are an important probe of the growth of structure in the universe. The structure of the diffuse, X-ray emitting intracluster gas reveals information about the key astrophysical processes that determine the relationship between the gas and the underlying dark matter halo. Furthermore, knowledge of the gas profiles allows halo mass models to be constrained, under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium, vital for applying clusters as a cosmological probe. This chapter provides an overview of the key properties of thermodynamic profiles and their evolution, discusses how they are measured, and provides a short summary of the latest results from both observations and numerical simulations. The chapter concludes with an outlook of future work that will further our understanding of the thermodynamic profiles in groups and clusters in the coming years.