The Missing Metal Problem in Galaxy Clusters: Characterizing the Early Enrichment Population

Blackwell, Anne; Bregman, J. N.; Snowden, S. L.

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2105.04638

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…A conundrum in the enrichment study is that the total metals observed in rich clusters cannot be explained by the visible stellar component, as shown in Figure 4 (also see E Blackwell et al 2021;Ghizzardi et al 2021). This discrepancy invokes an external and universal source of metals even before the star formation episode -an Early Enrichment Population (EEP), which is not visible today (Mantz et al 2017).…”

Section: Early Enrichment Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical abundances in the outskirts of nearby galaxy groups measured with joint Suzaku and Chandra observations

Sarkar

Truong

et al. 2022

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We report results from deep Suzaku and mostly snapshot Chandra observations of four nearby galaxy groups: MKW4, Antlia, RXJ1159+5531, and ESO3060170. Their peak temperatures vary over 2–3 keV, making them the smallest systems with gas properties constrained to their viral radii. The average Fe abundance in the outskirts (R > 0.25R200) of their intragroup medium (IGrM) is ZFe = 0.309 ± 0.018 Z⊙ with χ2 = 14 for 12 degrees of freedom, which is remarkably uniform and strikingly similar to that of massive galaxy clusters, and is fully consistent with the numerical predictions from the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulation. Our results support an early-enrichment scenario among galactic systems over an order of magnitude in mass, even before their formation. When integrated out to R200, we start to see a tension between the measured Fe content in ICM and what is expected from supernovae yields. We further constrain their O, Mg, Si, S, and Ni abundances. The abundance ratios of those elements relative to Fe are consistent with the predictions (if available) from IllustrisTNG. Their Type Ia supernovae fraction varies between 14 per cent–21 per cent. A pure core collapsed supernovae enrichment at group outskirts can be ruled out. Their cumulative iron-mass-to-light ratios within R200 are half that of the Perseus cluster, which may imply that galaxy groups do not retain all of their enriched gas due to their shallower gravitational potential wells, or that groups and clusters may have different star formation histories.

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Section: Early Enrichment Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical abundances in the outskirts of nearby galaxy groups measured with joint Suzaku and Chandra observations

Sarkar

Truong

et al. 2022

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…5.3, in the sense that the metal content of hot atmospheres at all scales would have very little to do with their associated stellar population (see e.g. Blackwell et al 2021). However, such a preenrichment scenario would hardy explain the narrow metal peak present in the core of NGC 1404, and would ignore the whole content of metals produced more recently which, in one way or another, must be present in its galactic atmosphere.…”

Section: The Chemical History Of Ngc 1404mentioning

confidence: 99%

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

Mernier,

Werner,

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Hot atmospheres pervading galaxy clusters, groups, and early-type galaxies are rich in metals, produced during epochs and diffused via processes that are still to be determined. While this enrichment has been routinely investigated in clusters, metals in lower mass systems are more challenging to probe with standard X-ray exposures and spectroscopy. In this paper, we focus on very deep XMM-Newton (∼350 ks) observations of NGC 1404, a massive elliptical galaxy experiencing ram-pressure stripping of its hot atmosphere while infalling toward the centre of the Fornax cluster, with the aim to derive abundances through its hot gas extent. Importantly, we report the existence of a new fitting bias -the "double Fe bias" -leading to an underestimate of the Fe abundance when two thermal components cannot realistically model the complex temperature structure present in the outer atmosphere of the galaxy. Contrasting with the "metal conundrum" seen in clusters, the Fe and Mg masses of NGC 1404 are measured 1-2 orders of magnitude below what stars and supernovae could have reasonably produced and released. In addition, we note the remarkable Solar abundance ratios of the galaxy's halo, different from its stellar counterpart but similar to the chemical composition of the ICM of rich clusters. Completing the clusters regime, all these findings provide additional support toward a scenario of early enrichment, at play over two orders of magnitude in mass. A few peculiar and intriguing features, such as a possible double metal peak as well as an apparent ring of enhanced Si near the galaxy core, are also discussed.

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“…Thirdly, when assessing the Sivanandam et al (2009) result that the ICS produces 25 per cent of the cluster ICM metallicity, Blackwell et al (2021) point out that, if this were the case, studies would show the ICS accounting for 80 per cent of the total cluster light, which is four times greater than what is currently observed. On this point, it is worth noting that Blackwell et al (2021) suggest the above result of Sivanandam et al ( 2009) is four times too high, while we find a value for the same fraction around four to five times lower than Sivanandam et al (2009).…”

Section: Ics Mass Fractionsmentioning

confidence: 92%

L-GALAXIES 2020: The formation and chemical evolution of stellar haloes in Milky Way Analogues and galaxy clusters

Murphy,

Yates,

Mohamed

2021

Preprint

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We present an analysis of the formation and chemical evolution of stellar haloes around (a) Milky Way Analogue (MWA) galaxies and (b) galaxy clusters in the L-G 2020 semi-analytic model of galaxy evolution. Observed stellar halo properties are better reproduced when assuming a gradual stripping model for the removal of cold gas and stars from satellites, compared to an instantaneous stripping model. The slope of the stellar mass -metallicity relation for MWA stellar haloes is in good agreement with that observed in the local Universe. This extends the good agreement between L-G 2020 and metallicity observations from the gas and stars inside galaxies to those outside. Halo stars contribute on average only ∼ 0.1 per cent of the total circumgalactic medium (CGM) enrichment by 𝑧 = 0 in MWAs, ejecting predominantly carbon produced by AGB stars. Around a quarter of MWAs have a single 'significant progenitor' with a mean mass of ∼ 2.3 × 10 9 M , similar to that measured for Gaia Enceladus. For galaxy clusters, L-G 2020 shows good correspondence with observations of stellar halo mass fractions, but slightly over-predicts stellar masses. Assuming a Navarro-Frenk-White profile for the stellar halo mass distribution provides the best agreement. On average, the intracluster stellar component (ICS) is responsible for 5.4 per cent of the total intracluster medium (ICM) iron enrichment, exceeding the contribution from the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) by 𝑧 = 0. We find that considering gradual stripping of satellites and realistic radial profiles is crucial for accurately modelling stellar halo formation on all scales in semi-analytic models.

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The Missing Metal Problem in Galaxy Clusters: Characterizing the Early Enrichment Population

Cited by 5 publications

References 43 publications

Chemical abundances in the outskirts of nearby galaxy groups measured with joint Suzaku and Chandra observations

Chemical abundances in the outskirts of nearby galaxy groups measured with joint Suzaku and Chandra observations

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

L-GALAXIES 2020: The formation and chemical evolution of stellar haloes in Milky Way Analogues and galaxy clusters

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