Free access article

A&A 420, 135-146 (2004)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20040103

Elemental abundances in the intracluster medium as observed with XMM-Newton

T. Tamura^{1, 2}, J. S. Kaastra¹, J. W. A. den Herder¹, J. A. M. Bleeker¹ and J. R. Peterson<sup>3

1</sup>  SRON National Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands
²  Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, 229-8510 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Japan
³  KIPAC, Stanford University PO Box 20450 Stanford, CA 94309, USA

(Received 19 August 2003 / Accepted 27 February 2004)

Abstract
XMM-Newton observations of 19 galaxy clusters are used to measure the elemental abundances and their spatial distributions in the intracluster medium. The sample mainly consists of X-ray bright and relaxed clusters with a cD galaxy. Along with detailed Si, S and Fe radial abundance distributions within 300-700 kpc in radius, the O abundances are accurately derived in the central region of the clusters. The Fe abundance maxima towards the cluster center, possibly due to the metals from the cD galaxy, are spatially resolved. The Si and S abundances also exhibit central increases in general, resulting in uniform Fe-Si-S ratios within the cluster. In contrast, the O abundances are in general uniform over the cluster. The mean O to Fe ratio within the cluster core is sub-solar, while that of the cluster scale is larger than the solar ratio. These measurements indicate that most of the Fe-Si-S and O in the intracluster medium have different origins, presumably in supernovae Ia and II, respectively. The obtained Fe and O mass are also used to discuss the past star formation history in clusters.

Key words: galaxies: clusters: general -- galaxies: abundances -- X-rays: galaxies: clusters

Offprint request: T. Tamura, tamura.takayuki@jaxa.jp

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