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J.S. Mulchaey (Carnegie Observatories)
ROSAT observations indicate that approximately half of all nearby groups contain spatially extended X-ray emission. This emission is believed to originate in a hot, low-density gas known as the intragroup medium. The radial extent of the X-ray emission is typically 50-500 kpc or approximately 10-50% of the virial radius of the group.
Diffuse X-ray emission is not found in spiral-only groups. One possibility is that the intragroup medium is too cool in spiral-only groups to produce appreciable amounts of X-rays. Such gas might produce absorption features in the far-ultraviolet or X-ray spectra of background quasars. I will discuss recent attempts to detect the intragroup medium in spiral-only groups with FUSE, CHANDRA and XMM-NEWTON.
The metal content of the intragroup medium provides important clues into the origin of the hot gas. I will review recent efforts to measure the metallicity of the intragroup medium with CHANDRA and XMM-NEWTON.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: mulchaey@ociw.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.