We present a simple model to describe the dark matter density , the gas density , and the gas temperature profiles of galaxy clusters .
Analytical expressions for these quantities are given in terms of only five free parameters with a clear physical meaning : the mass M of the dark matter halo ( or the characteristic temperature T _ { 0 } ) , the characteristic scale radius a , the cooling radius in units of a ( 0 < \alpha < 1 ) , the central temperature in units of T _ { 0 } ( 0 < t < 1 ) , and the asymptotic baryon fraction in units of the cosmic value ( f \sim 1 ) .
It is shown that our model is able to reproduce the three-dimensional density and temperature profiles inferred from X-ray observations of real clusters within a 20 per cent accuracy over most of the radial range .
Some possible applications are briefly discussed .