EDP Sciences Journals List
Advanced Search
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 447/3 Article
Free access article

Issue A&A
Volume 447, Number 3, March I 2006
Page(s) 827 - 842
Section Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies)
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053975



A&A 447, 827-842 (2006)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053975

Simulations of galactic winds and starbursts in galaxy clusters

W. Kapferer1, C. Ferrari1, W. Domainko1, M. Mair1, T. Kronberger1, 2, S. Schindler1, S. Kimeswenger1, E. van Kampen1, D. Breitschwerdt3 and M. Ruffert4

1  Institut für Astrophysik, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
    e-mail: wolfgang.e.kapferer@uibk.ac.at
2  Institut für Astrophysik, Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
3  Institut für Astronomie, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Wien, Austria
4  School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, Scotland, UK

(Received 3 August 2005 / Accepted 24 October 2005)

Abstract
We present an investigation of the metal enrichment of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) by galactic winds and merger-driven starbursts. We use combined N-body/hydrodynamic simulations with a semi-numerical galaxy formation model. The mass loss by galactic winds is obtained by calculating transonic solutions of steady state outflows, driven by thermal, cosmic ray and MHD wave pressure. The inhomogeneities in the metal distribution caused by these processes are an ideal tool to reveal the dynamical state of a galaxy cluster. We present surface brightness, X-ray emission weighted temperature and metal maps of our model clusters as they would be observed by X-ray telescopes like XMM-Newton. We show that X-ray weighted metal maps distinguish between pre- or post-merger galaxy clusters by comparing the metallicity distribution with the galaxy-density distribution: pre-mergers have a metallicity gap between the subclusters, post-mergers a high metallicity between subclusters. We apply our approach to two observed galaxy clusters, Abell 3528 and Abell 3921, to show whether they are pre- or post-merging systems. The survival time of the inhomogeneities in the metallicity distribution found in our simulations is up to several Gyr. We show that galactic winds and merger-driven starbursts enrich the ICM very efficiently after z=1 in the central (~3 Mpc radius) region of a galaxy cluster.


Key words: galaxies: clusters: general -- galaxies: abundances -- galaxies: interactions -- galaxies: ISM -- X-ray: galaxies: clusters

SIMBAD Objects



© ESO 2006


What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.