How do atomic code uncertainties affect abundance measurements in the intracluster medium?
Astronomische Nachrichten, vol. 341, pp. 203–209
Abstract
Abstract Accurate chemical abundance measurements of X‐ray‐emitting atmospheres pervading massive galaxies, galaxy groups, and clusters provide essential information on the star formation and chemical enrichment histories of these large‐scale structures. Although the collisionally ionized nature of the intracluster medium (ICM) makes these abundance measurements relatively easy, the underlying spectral models can rely on different atomic codes, which brings additional uncertainties on the inferred abundances. Here we provide a simple, yet comprehensive comparison between the codes SPEXACT v3.0.5 (ciemodel) and AtomDB v3.0.9 (vapecmodel) in the case of moderate, charged‐coupled device‐like resolution spectroscopy. We show that in cool plasmas (kT ≲ 2 keV), systematic differences up to ∼20% for the Fe abundance and ∼45% for the O/Fe, Mg/Fe, Si/Fe, and S/Fe ratios may still occur. Importantly, these discrepancies are also found to be instrument‐dependent, at least for the absolute Fe abundance. Future improvements in these two codes will be necessary to better address questions on ICM enrichment.
Authors 9
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François Mernier corresponding Aachen SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Utrecht The Netherlands
Eötvös Loránd University · Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Physics Eötvös University Budapest Hungary
MTA‐Eötvös University Lendület Hot Universe Research Group Budapest Hungary
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Utrecht The Netherlands
Institute of Physics Eötvös University Budapest Hungary
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Utrecht The Netherlands
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Eötvös Loránd University · Hiroshima University · Masaryk University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic
MTA‐Eötvös University Lendület Hot Universe Research Group Budapest Hungary
School of Science Hiroshima University Higashi‐Hiroshima Japan
School of Science Hiroshima University Higashi‐Hiroshima Japan
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Affiliation as printed
MTA‐Eötvös University Lendület Hot Universe Research Group Budapest Hungary
MTA‐Eötvös University Lendület Hot Universe Research Group Budapest Hungary
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Utrecht The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
RIKEN High Energy Astrophysics Laboratory Saitama Japan
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Leiden University · Leiden Observatory · Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
Leiden Observatory Leiden University Leiden The Netherlands
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Utrecht The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics University of Strathclyde Glasgow UK
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Leiden University · Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe · Leiden Observatory · Space Research Organisation Netherlands · The University of Tokyo
Affiliation as printed
Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI) University of Tokyo Kashiwa Japan
Leiden Observatory Leiden University Leiden The Netherlands
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Utrecht The Netherlands
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Leiden University · Leiden Observatory · Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
Leiden Observatory Leiden University Leiden The Netherlands
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Utrecht The Netherlands
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