The IntraCluster Medium: An Invariant Stellar IMF

Abstract

Evidence supporting the hypothesis of an invariant stellar Initial Mass Function is strong and varied. The intra-cluster medium in rich clusters of galaxies is one of the few contrary locations where recent interpretations of the chemical abundances have favoured an IMF that is biased towards massive stars, compared to the `normal' IMF. This interpretation hinges upon the neglect of Type Ia supernovae to the ICM enrichment, and a particular choice of the nucleosynthesis yields of Type II supernovae. We demonstrate here that when one adopts yields determined empirically from observations of Galactic stars, rather than the uncertain model yields, a self-consistent picture may be obtained with an invariant stellar IMF, and about half of the iron in the ICM being produced by Type Ia supernovae.

9 pages, LateX (aaspp4 macro), including one postscript figure. Accepted, ApJ Letters

References in corpus (3)

• Supernovae Types Ia/II and Intracluster Medium Enrichment
• A New Approach to Determine the Initial Mass Function in the Solar Neighborhood
• Roles of SNIa and SNII in ICM Enrichment

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