Mapping the Intracluster Medium in the Era of High-resolution X-ray Spectroscopy

TL;DR

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy will revolutionize our understanding of the intracluster medium by enabling detailed mapping of its physical, chemical, and kinematic properties in galaxy clusters, especially in outskirts.

Contribution

This study demonstrates the potential of upcoming high-resolution X-ray missions like LEM to recover detailed ICM properties through mock observations and analysis, highlighting key science drivers.

Findings

LEM can measure thermodynamic properties of ICM up to $r_{200}$.

Mock analysis shows the ability to recover gas metallicity and turbulence.

Identifies six key science drivers for future high-res X-ray missions.

Abstract

High-resolution spectroscopy in soft X-rays will open a new window to map multiphase gas in galaxy clusters and probe physics of the intracluster medium (ICM), including chemical enrichment histories, circulation of matter and energy during large-scale structure evolution, stellar and black hole feedback, halo virialization, and gas mixing processes. An eV-level spectral resolution, large field-of-view, and effective area are essential to separate cluster emissions from the Galactic foreground and efficiently map the cluster outskirts. Several mission concepts that meet these criteria have been proposed recently, e.g., LEM, HUBS, and SuperDIOS. This theoretical study explores what information on ICM physics could be recovered with such missions and the associated challenges. We emphasize the need for a comprehensive comparison between simulations and observations to interpret the high-resolution spectroscopic observations correctly. Using Line Emission Mapper (LEM) characteristics as an example, we demonstrate that it enables the use of soft X-ray emission lines (e.g., O VII/VIII and Fe-L complex) from the cluster outskirts to measure the thermodynamic, chemical, and kinematic properties of the gas up to $r_{200}$ and beyond. By generating mock observations with full backgrounds, analysing their images/spectra with observational approaches, and comparing the recovered characteristics with true ones from simulations, we develop six key science drivers for future missions, including the exploration of multiphase gas in galaxy clusters (e.g., temperature fluctuations, phase-space distributions), metallicity, ICM gas bulk motions and turbulence power spectra, ICM-cosmic filament interactions, and advances for cluster cosmology.