Chemical enrichment of galaxy clusters from hydrodynamical simulations

TL;DR

This paper uses advanced hydrodynamical simulations to study how metals are produced and distributed in galaxy clusters, focusing on the effects of different chemical evolution models and feedback efficiencies.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed chemical evolution model within cosmological simulations, allowing for comprehensive tracking of metal enrichment processes in galaxy clusters.

Findings

Impact of different chemical evolution models analyzed

Effect of stellar feedback efficiency on metal distribution assessed

Numerical effects on simulation outcomes evaluated

Abstract

We present cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters aimed at studying the process of metal enrichment of the intra--cluster medium (ICM). These simulations have been performed by implementing a detailed model of chemical evolution in the Tree-SPH \gd code. This model allows us to follow the metal release from SNII, SNIa and AGB stars, by properly accounting for the lifetimes of stars of different mass, as well as to change the stellar initial mass function (IMF), the lifetime function and the stellar yields. As such, our implementation of chemical evolution represents a powerful instrument to follow the cosmic history of metal production. The simulations presented here have been performed with the twofold aim of checking numerical effects, as well as the impact of changing the model of chemical evolution and the efficiency of stellar feedback.