We explore the relationship between the metallicity of the intracluster gas
in clusters of galaxies, determined by X-ray spectroscopy, and the presence of
cooling flows. Using ASCA spectra and ROSAT images, we demonstrate a clear
segregation between the metallicities of clusters with and without cooling
flows. On average, cooling-flow clusters have an emission-weighted metallicity
a factor ~ 1.8 times higher than that of non-cooling flow systems. We suggest
this to be due to the presence of metallicity gradients in the cooling flow
clusters, coupled with the sharply peaked X-ray surface brightness profiles of
these systems. Non-cooling flow clusters have much flatter X-ray surface
brightness distributions and are thought to have undergone recent merger events
which may have mixed the central high-metallicity gas with the surrounding less
metal-rich material. We find no evidence for evolution in the emission-weighted
metallicities of clusters within z~0.3.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS letters (December 1997). 6 pages, 2 figures in
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