Chemical evolution of the intra-cluster medium

Abstract

The high metallicity of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) is generally interpreted on the base of the galactic wind scenario for elliptical galaxies. In this framework, we develop a toy-model to follow the chemical evolution of the ICM, formulated in analogy to chemical models for individual galaxies. The model computes the galaxy formation history (GFH) of cluster galaxies, connecting the final luminosity function (LF) to the corresponding metal enrichment history of the ICM. The observed LF can be reproduced with a smooth, Madau-plot like GFH peaking at z~ 1-2, plus a "burst" of formation of dwarf galaxies at high redshift. The model is used to test the response of the predicted metal content and abundance evolution of the ICM to varying input galactic models. The chemical enrichment is computed from "galactic yields" based on models of elliptical galaxies with a variable initial mass function (IMF), favouring the formation of massive stars at high redshift and/or in more massive galaxies. For a given final galactic luminosity, these model ellipticals eject into the ICM a larger quantity of gas and of metals than do standard models based on the Salpeter IMF. However, a scenario in which the IMF varies with redshift as a consequence of the effect of the the cosmic background temperature on the Jeans mass scale, appears to be too mild to account for the observed metal production in clusters. The high iron-mass-to-luminosity-ratio of the ICM can be reproduced only by assuming a more dramatic variation of the typical stellar mass, in line with other recent findings. The mass in the wind-ejected gas is predicted to exceed the mass in galaxies by a factor of 1.5-2 and to constitute roughly half of the intra-cluster gas.

25 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

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Cited by in corpus (19)

• Chemical enrichment of the intra-cluster and intergalactic medium in a hierarchical galaxy formation model
• On the Mass-to-Light ratio and the Initial Mass Function in disc galaxies
• The metal enrichment of the intracluster medium in hierarchical galaxy formation models
• On the Similarity between Cluster and Galactic Stellar Initial Mass Functions
• Metal Enrichment of the ICM: a 3-D Picture of Chemical and Dynamical Properties
• On the Constancy of the Characteristic Mass of Young Stars
• Can a "standard" Initial Mass Function explain the metal enrichment in clusters of galaxies?
• The effect of differential galactic winds on the chemical evolution of galaxies
• Simulating galaxy clusters -- I. Thermal and chemical properties of the intra-cluster medium
• Abundance and temperature distributions in the hot intra-cluster gas of Abell 4059
• Iron in galaxy groups and clusters: Confronting galaxy evolution models with a newly homogenised dataset
• The Enrichment of the Intracluster Medium
• Massive elliptical galaxies in X-rays: the role of late gas accretion
• Simulating the formation and evolution of galaxies: Multi-phase description of the interstellar medium, star formation, and energy feedback
• Perspectives on Intracluster Enrichment and the Stellar Initial Mass Function in Elliptical Galaxies
• Thermal Evolution of Supernova Iron in Elliptical Galaxies
• The anatomy of the NGC 5044 group -- II. Stellar populations and star-formation histories
• On Iron Enrichment, Star Formation, and Type Ia Supernovae in Galaxy Clusters
• The Initial Mass Function in disc galaxies and in galaxy clusters: the chemo-photometric picture