Constraints on the Chemical Enrichment History of the Perseus Cluster of Galaxies from High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy

A. Simionescu, S. Nakashima, H. Yamaguchi, K. Matsushita, F. Mernier, N. Werner, T. Tamura, K. Nomoto, J. de Plaa, A. Bamba, E. Bulbul, Y. Ezoe, A. C. Fabian, Y. Fukazawa, L. Gu, Y. Ichinohe, M. N. Ishigaki, J. S. Kaastra, C. Kilbourne, T. Kitayama, S. -C. Leung, M. Leutenegger, M. Loewenstein, Y. Maeda, E. D. Miller, R. F. Mushotzky, H. Noda, C. Pinto, F. S. Porter, S. Safi-Harb, K. Sato, T. Takahashi, S. Ueda, S. Zha

Published 2018-06-04Version 1

High-resolution spectroscopy of the core of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, using the Hitomi satellite above 2 keV and the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer at lower energies, provides reliable constraints on the abundance ratios of O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Cr, Mn, and Ni, with respect to Fe. By comparison, the average biases in determining the chemical composition using archival CCD spectra from XMM-Newton and Suzaku range typically from 15-40%. A simple model in which the enrichment pattern in the Perseus Cluster core and the proto-solar nebula are identical gives a surprisingly good description of the high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy results, with $\chi^2=10.7$ for 10 d.o.f. However, this pattern is challenging to reproduce with linear combinations of existing supernova nucleosynthesis calculations, particularly given the precise measurements of intermediate $\alpha$-elements enabled by Hitomi. We discuss in detail the degeneracies between various progenitor models and explosion mechanisms, and the remaining uncertainties in these theoretical models. Our results provide a complementary benchmark for testing future nucleosynthesis calculations required to understand the origin of chemical elements.