Implications of Abundance Gradients in Intracluster Gas

Abstract

Analysis of spatially resolved ASCA spectra of the intracluster gas in Abell 496 confirms that metal abundances increase toward the center. We also find spatial gradients in several abundance ratios, indicating that the fraction of iron from SN Ia increases toward the cluster center. The dominant metal enrichment mechanism near the cluster center must therefore be different than in the outer parts. We show that ram pressure stripping of gas from cluster galaxies cannot account for the central abundance enhancement. We suggest that two successive stages of galactic winds contaminate intracluster gas: protogalactic winds driven by SN II, followed by less energetic winds driven by SN Ia, which have longer lived progenitors than SN II. The less energetic secondary wind from a cD galaxy may be suppressed, due to its location at the cluster center, leading to the observed central enhancement of SN Ia ejecta.