The Missing Metal Problem in Galaxy Clusters: Characterizing the Early Enrichment Population

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal 2022-03, Vol.927 (1), p.104
• Main Authors: Blackwell, Anne E., Bregman, Joel N., Snowden, Steven L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astrophysics; Galactic clusters; Galaxies; Galaxy clusters; Intracluster medium; Iron; James Webb Space Telescope; Metallicity; Population II stars; Red shift; Space telescopes; Stars & galaxies; Stellar populations; Supernova; X-ray astronomy; XMM (spacecraft)
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac4dfb

Rich and poor galaxy clusters have the same measured halo metallicity, 0.35–0.4 Z ⊙ , even though they are an order of magnitude apart in stellar fraction, M * / M gas . The measured intracluster medium (ICM) metallicity in high-mass clusters cannot be explained by the visible stellar population as stars typically make up 3%–20% of the total baryon mass. The independence of metallicity of M * / M gas suggests an external and universal source of metals such as an early enrichment population (EEP). Galaxy cluster RX J1416.4+2315, classified as a fossil system, has a stellar fraction of M * / M gas = 0.054 ± 0.018, and here we improve the halo metallicity determination using archival Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. We determine the ICM metallicity of RXJ1416 to be 0.303 ± 0.053 Z ⊙ within 0.3 < R / R 500 < 1, excluding the central galaxy. We combine this measurement with other clusters with a wider range of M * / M gas , resulting in the fit of Z tot = (0.36 ± 0.01) + (0.10 ± 0.17)( M * / M gas ). This fit is largely independent of M * / M gas and shows that for a low M * / M gas system, the observed stellar population can make only 10%–20% of the total metals. We quantify the Fe contribution of the EEP further by adopting a standard Fe yield for visible stellar populations, and find that Z EEP = (0.36 ± 0.01) − − (0.96 ± 0.17)( M * / M gas ). To account for the observed Fe mass, a supernova (SN) rate of 10 ± 5 SNe yr −1 (Type Ia) and 40 ± 19 SNe yr −1 (core collapse) is required over the redshift range 3 < z < 10 for a single galaxy cluster with mass ∼3 × 10 14 M ⊙ at z = 0. These SNe might be visible in observations of high-redshift clusters and protoclusters with the James Webb Space Telescope.