Metal enrichment in the galaxy group IC 1262

TL;DR

This study analyzes metal distribution and transport mechanisms in galaxy group IC 1262 using X-ray and radio observations, revealing cold fronts, shock fronts, and the influence of AGN activity on gas enrichment.

Contribution

It provides detailed evidence of metal transport via sloshing cold fronts and shock fronts, highlighting the role of AGN activity in galaxy group metal enrichment.

Findings

Metallicity discontinuities at cold fronts indicate metal transport.

Significant metallicity drop across the shock front at 78 kpc.

Temperature structures aligned with radio jets suggest AGN influence.

Abstract

We present a new metal enrichment analysis of a unique galaxy group IC 1262 using archival Chandra and GMRT observations, focusing on metal transport via radio jet, sloshing cold fronts, and shock front. This group shows two sloshing cold fronts along the east and north-west direction which is nearly orthogonal to the north - south orientated radio jet. We report discontinuities in the metallicity at the location of previously detected cold fronts, a more prominent one towards the eastern direction. In addition, the gas inside the cold fronts is 45$\pm$8 per cent more enriched than the gas outside the cold front, suggesting the role of sloshing in transporting metals through the IGrM. We also confirm the presence of a previously reported shock front with higher significance and with greater details. Across this shock, we detect a significant metallicity drop from 0.45$\pm$0.05 $Z_{\odot}$ to 0.22$\pm$0.04 $Z_{\odot}$, located at a projected distance of 78$\pm$2 kpc in the southern direction. The shock could potentially account for the region of gas enrichment seen in the abundance map and profile, which could be the result of a non-Maxwellian electron distribution in its vicinity. This should be considered a contributing factor rather than the sole cause of the observed discontinuity in the abundance. Furthermore, our spectral analysis reveals two temperature X-ray gas preferentially aligned with the radio-jet axis, indicating a possible influence of radio AGN activity on the surrounding gas.