Emission Lines in X-ray Spectra of Clusters of Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper reviews how X-ray emission lines from galaxy clusters' hot plasma reveal chemical compositions and thermodynamics, informing galaxy evolution models, with recent advances from Chandra and XMM-Newton observations and future prospects.

Contribution

It summarizes recent progress in understanding the ICM through X-ray emission lines, including cool core nature and high-redshift iron abundance, highlighting future observational prospects.

Findings

Identification of heavy elements in the ICM.

Insights into the thermodynamical state of galaxy clusters.

Progress enabled by Chandra and XMM-Newton data.

Abstract

Emission lines in X-ray spectra of clusters of galaxies reveal the presence of heavy elements in the diffuse hot plasma (the Intra Cluster Medium, or ICM) in virial equilibrium in the dark matter potential well. The relatively simple physical state of the ICM allows us to estimate, with good accuracy, its thermodynamical properties and chemical abundances. These measures put strong constraints on the interaction processes between the galaxies and the surrounding medium, and have significant impact on models of galaxy formation as well. This field is rapidly evolving thanks to the X-ray satellites Chandra and XMM-Newton. Among the most relevant progresses in the last years, we briefly discuss the nature of cool cores and the measure of the Iron abundance in high redshift clusters. Future X-ray missions with bolometers promise to provide a substantial step forward to a more comprehensive understanding of the complex physics of the ICM.