Metallicity Distributions of the Innermost 100 kpc of Galaxy Clusters
Abstract
It is known that the Fe abundance profiles of cool core galaxy clusters are generally rising toward their central regions. However, in some cool core clusters, the abundance profiles appear to be dropping closest to the center (r < 50--100 kpc). How much the drops are due to multi-temperature bias or real decrements in abundance is not yet well understood. We conduct a statistical study of abundance determination in the central regions of galaxy clusters utilizing Chandra archival data. Our sample is comprised of low-redshift clusters (z < 0.09), which allows us to investigate detailed abundance distributions with high spatial resolution within the central 100 kpc. We present initial results on a sub-sample of about 10 clusters (including both cool core and non-cool core) of our sample, with evidence of abundance drops in at least half of the clusters. We discuss possible modeling biases as well as correlations between abundance patterns and intracluster medium properties of these clusters.
