Radial metallicity profiles for a large sample of galaxy clusters observed with XMM-Newton
Abstract
Aims. We measured radial metallicity profiles for a sample of ~50 hot, intermediate redshift galaxy clusters, selected from the XMM-Newton archive. Methods. As in our previous paper, we used background modeling rather than background subtraction, and the Cash statistic rather than the chi square. This method requires a careful characterization of all background components. We also performed montecarlo simulations to assess systematic effects. Results. The mean metallicity profile shows a peak in the center, and gently declines out to 0.2 R180. Beyond 0.2 R180 the metallicity is roughly 0.2 solar and, at variance with recently published expectations based on simulations, consistent with being flat. We find no evidence of profile evolution from z=0.1 to z=0.3. When comparing our mean profile to those obtained by recent works with BeppoSAX and Chandra, we find remarkable agreement over the entire radial range.