Taking a census of the Oxygen abundance and distribution in galaxy groups and clusters
Abstract
Oxygen is the most abundant of the elements produced after Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Its abundance carries information about the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies. Furthermore its spatial distribution in galaxy clusters encodes the metal enrichment history of the ICM. Despite the importance of Oxygen, its abundance and distribution in the Universe is still a matter of debate. We present measurements of the oxygen abundance and radial distribution for a large sample of galaxy groups and clusters. In addition we compare the radial distribution of oxygen with Silicon, Sulfur, and Iron, to identify the combination of processes involved in the ICM enrichment. Finally, we use metal abundances and ratios, in particular the O/Fe ratio, to constrain the relative ratios of supernovae types.
- Publication:
-
The X-ray Universe 2014
- Pub Date:
- July 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014xru..confE.278L