256 research outputs found
AN XMM-NEWTON SEARCH FOR X-RAY EMISSION FROM THE MICROLENSING EVENT MACHO-96-BLG-5
MACHO-96-BLG-5 was a microlensing event observed toward the bulge of the Galaxy with an exceptionally long duration of ~970 days. The microlensing parallax fit parameters were used to estimate a lens mass M = 6 Mâ, corresponding to a distance d in the range 0.5-2 kpc. The upper limit on the absolute brightness for main-sequence stars of the same mass is less than 1 Lâ, so the lens is a good black hole candidate. Such a black hole would accrete from the interstellar medium, thereby emitting in the X-ray band. Here we report the analysis of a deep XMM-Newton observation toward the MACHO-96-BLG-5 lens position. Only an upper limit (99.8% confidence level) to the X-ray flux from the lens position, 9.10 Ă 10-15 to 1.45 Ă 10-14 ergs cm-2 s-1 in the 0.2-10 keV energy band, is obtained, allowing us to constrain the putative black hole's accretion parameters
Cold fronts and multi-temperature structures in the core of Abell 2052
The physics of the coolest phases in the hot Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM) of
clusters of galaxies is yet to be fully unveiled. X-ray cavities blown by the
central Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) contain enough energy to heat the
surrounding gas and stop cooling, but locally blobs or filaments of gas appear
to be able to cool to low temperatures of 10^4 K. In X-rays, however, gas with
temperatures lower than 0.5 keV is not observed. Using a deep XMM-Newton
observation of the cluster of galaxies Abell 2052, we derive 2D maps of the
temperature, entropy, and iron abundance in the core region. About 130 kpc
South-West of the central galaxy, we discover a discontinuity in the surface
brightness of the hot gas which is consistent with a cold front. Interestingly,
the iron abundance jumps from ~0.75 to ~0.5 across the front. In a smaller
region to the North-West of the central galaxy we find a relatively high
contribution of cool 0.5 keV gas, but no X-ray emitting gas is detected below
that temperature. However, the region appears to be associated with much cooler
H-alpha filaments in the optical waveband. The elliptical shape of the cold
front in the SW of the cluster suggests that the front is caused by sloshing of
the hot gas in the clusters gravitational potential. This effect is probably an
important mechanism to transport metals from the core region to the outer parts
of the cluster. The smooth temperature profile across the sharp jump in the
metalicity indicates the presence of heat conduction and the lack of mixing
across the discontinuity. The cool blob of gas NW of the central galaxy was
probably pushed away from the core and squeezed by the adjacent bubble, where
it can cool efficiently and relatively undisturbed by the AGN. Shock induced
mixing between the two phases may cause the 0.5 keV gas to cool non-radiatively
and explain our non-detection of gas below 0.5 keV.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, A&A, in pres
The temperature structure in the core of Sersic 159-03
We present results from a new 120 ks XMM-Newton observation of the cluster of
galaxies Sersic 159-03. In this paper we focus on the high-resolution X-ray
spectra obtained with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS). The spectra
allow us to constrain the temperature structure in the core of the cluster and
determine the emission measure distribution as a function of temperature. We
also fit the line widths of mainly oxygen and iron lines.Comment: 7 pages and 4 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the COSPAR
Scientific Assembly, session E1.2 "Clusters of Galaxies: New Insights from
XMM-Newton, Chandra and INTEGRAL", july 2004, Paris (France). Accepted for
publication in Advances in Space Researc
X-ray spectral study of the hot gas in three Clusters of Galaxies
We study the physical properties of three clusters of galaxies, selected from
a BeppoSAX Wide Field Camera (WFC) survey. These sources are identified as 1RXS
J153934.7-833535, 1RXS J160147.6-754507, and 1RXS J081232.3-571423 in the ROSAT
All-Sky Survey catalogue. We obtained XMM-Newton follow-up observations for
these three clusters. We fit single and multi-temperature models to spectra
obtained from the EPIC-pn camera to determine the temperature, the chemical
composition of the gas and their radial distribution. Since two observations
are contaminated by a high soft-proton background, we develop a new method to
estimate the effect of this background on the data. For the first time, we
present the temperature and iron abundance of two of these three clusters. The
iron abundance of 1RXS J153934.7-33535 decreases with radius. The fits to the
XMM-Newton and Chandra data show that the radial temperature profile within 3'
towards the centre either flattens or lowers. A Chandra image of the source
suggests the presence of X-ray cavities. The gas properties in 1RXS
J160147.6-754507 are consistent with a flat radial distribution of iron and
temperature within 2' from the centre. 1RXS J081232.3-571423 is a relatively
cool cluster with a temperature of about 3 keV. The radial temperature and iron
profiles suggest that 1RXS J153934.7-833535 is a cool core cluster. The Chandra
image shows substructure which points toward AGN feedback in the core. The flat
radial profiles of the temperature and iron abundance in 1RXS J160147.6-754507
are similar to the profiles of non-cool-core clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 8 pages, 8 figures; corrected typos,
added data points on which fig 1 and 2 are based as comment to source file
Estimating turbulent velocities in the elliptical galaxies NGC 5044 and NGC 5813
The interstellar and intra-cluster medium in giant elliptical galaxies and
clusters of galaxies is often assumed to be in hydrostatic equilibrium.
Numerical simulations, however, show that about 5-30% of the pressure in a
cluster is provided by turbulence induced by, for example, the central AGN and
merger activity. We aim to put constraints on the turbulent velocities and
turbulent pressure in the ICM of the giant elliptical galaxies NGC 5044 and NGC
5813 using XMM-Newton RGS observations. The magnitude of the turbulence is
estimated using the Fe XVII lines at 15.01 A, 17.05 A, and 17.10 A in the RGS
spectra. At low turbulent velocities, the gas becomes optically thick in the
15.01 A line due to resonant scattering, while the 17 A lines remain optically
thin. By comparing the (I(17.05)+I(17.10))/I(15.01) line ratio from RGS with
simulated line ratios for different Mach numbers, the level of turbulence is
constrained. The measurement is limited by systematic uncertainties in the
atomic data, which are at the 20-30% level. We find that the line ratio in NGC
5813 is significantly higher than in NGC 5044. This difference can be explained
by a higher level of turbulence in NGC 5044. The high turbulent velocities and
the fraction of the turbulent pressure support of >40% in NGC 5044, assuming
isotropic turbulence, confirm that it is a highly disturbed system, probably
due to an off-axis merger. The turbulent pressure support in NGC 5813 is more
modest at 15-45%. The (I(17.05)+I(17.10))/I(15.01) line ratio in an optically
thin plasma, calculated using AtomDB v2.0.1, is 2 sigma above the ratio
measured in NGC 5044, which cannot be explained by resonant scattering. This
shows that the discrepancies between theoretical, laboratory, and astrophysical
data on Fe XVII lines need to be reduced to improve the accuracy of the
determination of turbulent velocities using resonant scattering.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Origin of central abundances in the hot intra-cluster medium - I. Individual and average abundance ratios from XMM-Newton EPIC
The hot intra-cluster medium (ICM) is rich in metals, which are synthesized
by supernovae (SNe) explosions and accumulate over time into the deep
gravitational potential well of clusters of galaxies. Since most of the
elements visible in X-rays are formed by type Ia (SNIa) and/or core-collapse
(SNcc) supernovae, measuring their abundances gives us direct information on
the nucleosynthesis products of billions of SNe since the epoch of the star
formation peak (z ~ 2-3). In this study, we use the EPIC and RGS instruments
onboard XMM-Newton to measure the abundances of 9 elements (O, Ne, Mg, Si, S,
Ar, Ca, Fe and Ni) from a sample of 44 nearby cool-core galaxy clusters,
groups, and elliptical galaxies. We find that the Fe abundance shows a large
scatter (~20-40%) over the sample, within 0.2 and, especially,
0.05. Unlike the absolute Fe abundance, the abundance ratios (X/Fe)
are quite uniform over the considered temperature range (~0.6-8 keV), and with
a limited scatter. In addition to a unprecedented treatment of systematic
uncertainties, we provide the most accurate abundance ratios measured so far in
the ICM, including Cr/Fe and Mn/Fe that we firmly detect (>4{\sigma} with MOS
and pn independently). We find that Cr/Fe, Mn/Fe and Ni/Fe, differ
significantly from the proto-solar values. However, the large uncertainties in
the proto-solar abundances prevent us from making a robust comparison between
the local and the intra-cluster chemical enrichments. We also note that,
interestingly, and despite the large net exposure time (~4.5 Ms) of our
dataset, no line emission feature is seen around ~3.5 keV.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The metal contents of two groups of galaxies
The hot gas in clusters and groups of galaxies is continuously being enriched
with metals from supernovae and stars. It is well established that the
enrichment of the gas with elements from oxygen to iron is mainly caused by
supernova explosions. The origins of nitrogen and carbon are still being
debated. Possible candidates include massive, metal-rich stars, early
generations of massive stars, intermediate or low mass stars and Asymptotic
Giant Branch (AGB) stars. In this paper we accurately determine the metal
abundances of the gas in the groups of galaxies NGC 5044 and NGC 5813, and
discuss the nature of the objects that create these metals.
We mainly focus on carbon and nitrogen. We use spatially-resolved
high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy from XMM-Newton. For the spectral fitting,
multi-temperature hot gas models are used. The abundance ratios of carbon over
oxygen and nitrogen over oxygen that we find are high compared to the ratios in
the stars in the disk of our Galaxy. The oxygen and nitrogen abundances we
derive are similar to what was found in earlier work on other giant ellipticals
in comparable environments. We show that the iron abundances in both our
sources have a gradient along the cross-dispersion direction of the Reflection
Grating Spectrometer (RGS). We conclude that it is unlikely that the creation
of nitrogen and carbon takes place in massive stars, which end their lives as
core-collapse supernovae, enriching the medium with oxygen because oxygen
should then also be enhanced. Therefore we favour low-and intermediate mass
stars as sources of these elements. The abundances in the hot gas can best be
explained by a 30-40% contribution of type Ia supernovae based on the measured
oxygen and iron abundances and under the assumption of a Salpeter Initial Mass
Function (IMF).Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 12 pages, 10 figures. Data points on
which figs 4,5,8 and 9 are based are present as comment in the source fil
Enrichment of the hot intracluster medium: observations
Four decades ago, the firm detection of an Fe-K emission feature in the X-ray
spectrum of the Perseus cluster revealed the presence of iron in its hot
intracluster medium (ICM). With more advanced missions successfully launched
over the last 20 years, this discovery has been extended to many other metals
and to the hot atmospheres of many other galaxy clusters, groups, and giant
elliptical galaxies, as evidence that the elemental bricks of life -
synthesized by stars and supernovae - are also found at the largest scales of
the Universe. Because the ICM, emitting in X-rays, is in collisional ionisation
equilibrium, its elemental abundances can in principle be accurately measured.
These abundance measurements, in turn, are valuable to constrain the physics
and environmental conditions of the Type Ia and core-collapse supernovae that
exploded and enriched the ICM over the entire cluster volume. On the other
hand, the spatial distribution of metals across the ICM constitutes a
remarkable signature of the chemical history and evolution of clusters, groups,
and ellipticals. Here, we summarise the most significant achievements in
measuring elemental abundances in the ICM, from the very first attempts up to
the era of XMM-Newton, Chandra, and Suzaku and the unprecedented results
obtained by Hitomi. We also discuss the current systematic limitations of these
measurements and how the future missions XRISM and Athena will further improve
our current knowledge of the ICM enrichment.Comment: 49 pages. Review paper. Accepted for publication on Space Science
Reviews. This is the companion review of "Enrichment of the hot intracluster
medium: numerical simulations
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