Radial metallicity profiles for a large sample of galaxy clusters observed with XMM-Newton

Aims: We measured radial metallicity profiles for a sample of ≈50 hot, intermediate redshift galaxy clusters, selected from the XMM-Newton archive.
Methods: As in our previous paper, we used background modeling rather than background subtraction, and the Cash statistic rather than the χ^2. This method requires a careful characterization of all background components. We also performed Montecarlo simulations to assess systematic effects.
Results: The mean metallicity profile shows a peak in the center, and gently declines out to 0.2 R₁₈₀. Beyond 0.2 R₁₈₀ the metallicity is ≈0.2 solar and, at variance with recently published expectations based on simulations, consistent with being flat. We find no evidence of profile evolution from z = 0.1 to z = 0.3. When comparing our mean profile to those obtained by recent works with BeppoSAX and Chandra, we find remarkable agreement over the entire radial range.