| Full text | |
| Author(s): |
Total Authors: 5
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| Affiliation: | [1] Geofis & C Atmosf USP, Inst Astron, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo - Brazil
[2] Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 - USA
[3] Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 7095, Inst Astrophys Paris, F-75014 Paris - France
Total Affiliations: 3
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| Document type: | Journal article |
| Source: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society; v. 394, n. 1, p. 357-366, Mar. 2009. |
| Field of knowledge: | Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy |
| Web of Science Citations: | 6 |
| Abstract | |
X-ray observations of galaxy clusters have shown that the intra-cluster gas has iron abundances of about one-third of the solar value. These observations also show that part (if not all) of the intra-cluster gas metals was produced within the member galaxies. We present a systematic analysis of 20 galaxy clusters to explore the connection between the iron mass and the total luminosity of early- and late-type galaxies, and of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). From our results, the intra-cluster medium (ICM) iron mass seems to correlate better with the luminosity of the BCGs than with that of the red and blue galaxy populations. As the BCGs cannot produce alone the observed amount of iron, we suggest that ram-pressure plus tidal stripping acts together to enhance, at the same time, the BCG luminosities and the iron mass in the ICM. Through the analysis of the iron yield, we have also estimated that SN Ia are responsible for more than 50 per cent of the total iron in the ICM. This result corroborates the fact that ram-pressure contributes to the gas removal from galaxies to the ICM, being very efficient for clusters in the temperature range 2 < kT (keV) < 10. (AU) | |