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[13.07] Groups and the Entropy Floor- XMM-Newton Observations of Four Groups

E. Figueroa-Feliciano, R. Mushotzky, D. Davies, M. Loewenstein, S. L. Snowden (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Using XMM-Newton spatially resolved X-ray imaging spectroscopy we obtain the temperature, density, entropy, gas mass, and total mass profiles for four groups of galaxies (NGC4325, NGC2563, NGC2300, and NGC5129) out to ~.3R_vir (R_vir, the virial radius). Our density profiles agree well with those derived previously, and the temperature data are broadly consistent with previous results but are considerably more precise. These groups are at the mass scale of 2x10¹³ M_solar but have rather different properties. They have considerably lower gas mass fractions at r<0.3R_vir than the rich clusters. NGC2563, one of the least luminous groups for its X-ray temperature, has a very low gas mass fraction of ~.004 inside 0.1 R_vir, which rises with radius. NGC4325, one of the most luminous groups at the same average temperature, has a higher gas mass fraction of 0.02. The entropy profiles and the absolute values of the entropy as a function of virial radius also differ, with NGC4325 having a value of ~00~keV~cm-2 and NGC2563 a value of ~00~keV~cm-2 at r~.1 R_vir, and the other groups in between. The profiles rise monotonically with radius and there is no sign of an entropy floor. These results are inconsistent with pre-heating scenarios which have been developed to explain the entropy floor in groups but are broadly consistent with models of structure formation which include the effects of heating and/or the cooling of the gas. The total entropy in these systems provides a strong constraint on all models of galaxy and group formation, and on the poorly defined feedback process which controls the transformation of gas into stars and thus the formation of structure in the universe.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: Enectali.Figueroa-1@nasa.gov

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#2
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.