SIMBAD references

We present constraints on a simple analytical model for hot diffuse halo gas, derived from a fit spanning two orders of magnitude in halo mass (M₅₀₀ ∼10^12.5-10^14.5 M_☉). The model is motivated by the observed prevalence of a precipitation limit, and its main free parameter is the central ratio of gas cooling time-scale to free-fall time-scale (t_cool/t_ff). We use integrated X-ray and thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations of the environments around massive galaxies, galaxy groups, and clusters, averaged in halo mass bins, and obtain the best-fitting model parameters. We find t_cool/t_ff ∼ 50-110, depending on the model extrapolation beyond the halo virial radius and possibly on biases present in the data sets used in the fitting analysis. The model adequately describes the entire mass range, except for intermediate mass haloes (M₅₀₀ ∼10^13.5 M_☉) that systematically fall below the model predictions. However, the best fits for t_cool/t_ff substantially exceed the values typically derived from X-ray observations of individual systems (t_cool/t_ff ∼ 10-30). We consider several explanations for those discrepancies, including X-ray selection biases and a potential anticorrelation between X-ray luminosity and the central galaxy's stellar mass.