Temperature and Metallicity in the Intra-cluster Medium of ABELL 262 observed with Suzaku

TL;DR

This study analyzed the temperature and metallicity distribution of the intra-cluster medium in Abell 262 using Suzaku, revealing detailed abundance gradients and supernova enrichment ratios, contributing to understanding galaxy cluster evolution.

Contribution

First measurement of O and Mg abundances in Abell 262's ICM extending to 0.43 r_180, with detailed abundance gradients and supernova ratio calculations.

Findings

Steep abundance gradients for Mg, Si, S, and Fe.

Flat abundance distribution for O.

Supernova type II to Ia ratio of 3.0 +- 0.6.

Abstract

We studied the temperature and abundance distributions of intra-cluster medium (ICM) in the Abell 262 cluster of galaxies observed with Suzaku. Abell 262 is a bright, nearby poor cluster with ICM temperature of ~2 keV, thus providing useful information about the connection of ICM properties between groups and clusters of galaxies. The observed spectrum of the central region was well-represented by two temperature models, and the spectra for the outer regions were described by single temperature model. With the XIS instrument, we directly measured not only Si, S, and Fe lines but also O and Mg lines and obtained those abundances to an outer region of ~0.43 r_180 for the first time. We found steep gradients for Mg, Si, S, and Fe abundances, while O showed almost flat abundance distribution. Abundance ratios of alpha-elements to Fe were found to be similar to those of the other clusters and groups. We calculated the number ratio of type II to type Ia supernovae for the ICM enrichment to be 3.0 +- 0.6 within 0.1 r_180, and the value was consistent with those for other clusters and groups. We also calculated metal mass-to-light ratios (MLRs) for Fe, O and Mg (IMLR, OMLR, MMLR) with B-band and K-band luminosities of the member galaxies of Abell 262. The derived MLRs were comparable to those for other clusters with kT = 3-4 keV.