The evolution of baryons and dark matter in galaxy clusters

Clusters of galaxies emit powerful X-rays due to bremsstrahlung emission by hot intra-cluster plasma contained in the gravitational potetntial wells. The physics of such baryons is complex and includes the following processes: the dynamical evolution of the potential wells which grow due to merging of smaller clumps; the compressions and shocks at the cluster boundary occuring during each merging event; the resetting of the gas to hydrostatic equilibrium in the interval between subsequent mergings. We develop a model capturing all the above processes, and use it to relate the observed X-ray luminosity of clusters to the Dark Matter content of the clusters (i.e., to the depth of the potential wells) whose evolution is known from the current theories of structure formation. We use such relation to constraint the cosmological parameters and the nature of the Dark Matter.