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We analyzed a deep XMM-Newton observation of the cluster of galaxies Hydra A, focusing on the large-scale shock discovered as a surface brightness discontinuity in Chandra images. The shock front can be seen both in the pressure map and in temperature profiles in several sectors. The Mach numbers determined from the temperature jumps are in good agreement with the Mach numbers derived from EPIC/pn surface brightness profiles and previously from Chandra data and are consistent with M~1.3. The estimated shock age in the different sectors using a spherically symmetric point explosion model ranges between 130 and 230 Myr and the outburst energy between 1.5 and 3e61 ergs. The shape of the shock seen in the pressure map can be approximated with an ellipse centered 70 kpc towards the NE from the cluster center. We aimed to develop a better model that can explain the offset between the shock center and the AGN and give a consistent result on the shock age and energy. To this end, we performed 3D hydrodynamical simulations in which the shock is produced by a symmetrical pair of AGN jets launched in a spherical galaxy cluster. As an explanation of the observed offset of the shock center, we consider large-scale bulk flows in the intracluster medium. The simulation successfully reproduces the size, ellipticity, and average Mach number of the observed shock front. The predicted age of the shock is 160 Myr and the total input energy 3e61 erg. Both values are within the range determined by the spherically symmetric model. Matching the observed 70 kpc offset of the shock ellipse from the cluster center requires large-scale coherent motions with a high velocity of 670 km/s. We discuss the feasibility of this scenario and offer alternative ways to produce the offset and to further improve the simulation., Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in A&A, minor revision compared to previous version

We analyzed global properties, radial profiles and 2D maps of the metal abundances and temperature in the cool core cluster of galaxies Hydra A using a deep XMM-Newton exposure. The best fit among the available spectral models is provided by a Gaussian distribution of the emission measure (gdem). We can accurately determine abundances for 7 elements in the cluster core with EPIC and 3 elements with RGS. The gdem model gives lower Fe abundances than a single temperature model. The abundance profiles for Fe, Si, S, but also O are centrally peaked. Combining the Hydra A results with 5 other clusters for which detailed chemical abundance studies are available, we find a significant decrease of O with radius, while the increase in the O/Fe ratio with radius is small within 0.1 r_200. We compare the observed abundance ratios with the mixing of various supernova type Ia and core-collapse yield models in different relative amounts. Producing the estimated O, Si and S peaks in Hydra A requires either an amount of metals ejected by stellar winds 3-8 times higher than predicted by available models or a remaining peak in the enrichment by core-collapse supernovae from the protocluster phase. The temperature map shows cooler gas extending in arm-like structures towards the north and south. These structures appear to be richer in metals than the ambient medium and spatially correlated with the large-scale radio lobes. We estimate the mass of cool gas, which was probably uplifted by buoyant bubbles of relativistic plasma produced by the AGN, to 1.6-6.1x10^9 M_sun, and the energy associated with this uplift to 3.3-12.5x10^58 ergs. The best estimate of the mass of Fe uplifted together with the cool gas is 1.7x10^7 M_sun, 15% of the total mass of Fe in the central 0.5arcmin region., Comment: A&A, in press. Corrected right panel of Fig. 11, no other changes compared to previous version

About half of the baryons in the local Universe are invisible and - according to simulations - their dominant fraction resides in filaments connecting clusters of galaxies in the form of low density gas with temperatures in the range of 10^5

Because of their deep gravitational potential wells, clusters of galaxies retain all the metals produced by the stellar populations of the member galaxies. Most of these metals reside in the hot plasma which dominates the baryon content of clusters. This makes them excellent laboratories for the study of the nucleosynthesis and chemical enrichment history of the Universe. Here we review the history, current possibilities and limitations of the abundance studies, and the present observational status of X-ray measurements of the chemical composition of the intra-cluster medium. We summarise the latest progress in using the abundance patterns in clusters to put constraints on theoretical models of supernovae and we show how cluster abundances provide new insights into the star-formation history of the Universe., Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view", Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 16; work done by an international team at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S. Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeker

An excess over the extrapolation to the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray ranges of the thermal emission from the hot intracluster medium has been detected in a number of clusters of galaxies. We briefly present each of the satellites (EUVE, ROSAT PSPC and BeppoSAX, and presently XMM-Newton, Chandra and Suzaku) and their corresponding instrumental issues, which are responsible for the fact that this soft excess remains controversial in a number of cases. We then review the evidence for this soft X-ray excess and discuss the possible mechanisms (thermal and non-thermal) which could be responsible for this emission., Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view", Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 4; work done by an international team at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S. Kaastra, A.M.Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeker

We present the work of an international team at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern that worked together to review the current observational and theoretical status of the non-virialised X-ray emission components in clusters of galaxies. The subject is important for the study of large-scale hierarchical structure formation and to shed light on the "missing baryon" problem. The topics of the team work include thermal emission and absorption from the warm-hot intergalactic medium, non-thermal X-ray emission in clusters of galaxies, physical processes and chemical enrichment of this medium and clusters of galaxies, and the relationship between all these processes. One of the main goals of the team is to write and discuss a series of review papers on this subject. These reviews are intended as introductory text and reference for scientists wishing to work actively in this field. The team consists of sixteen experts in observations, theory and numerical simulations., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view", Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 1; work done by an international team at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S. Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeker

We use deep (~120 ks) XMM-Newton data of the M87 halo to analyze its spatially resolved temperature structure and chemical composition. We focus particularly on the regions of enhanced X-ray brightness associated with the inner radio lobes, which are known not to be described very well by single-temperature spectral models. Compared to a simple two-temperature fit, we obtain a better and more physical description of the spectra using a model that involves a continuous range of temperatures in each spatial bin. The range of temperatures of the multiphase gas spans ~0.6-3.2 keV. Such a multiphase structure is only possible if thermal conduction is suppressed by magnetic fields. In the multi-temperature regions, we find a correlation between the amount of gas cooler than the surrounding X-ray plasma and the metallicity, and conclude that the cool gas is more metal-rich than the ambient halo. We estimate the average Fe abundance of the cool gas to ~2.2 solar. Our results thus point toward the key role of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in transporting heavy elements into the intracluster medium. The abundance ratios of O/Si/S/Fe in and outside the X-ray arms are similar, indicating that the dominant fraction of metals in the gas halo was uplifted by AGN outbursts relatively recently compared to the age of M87. Our estimate for the mass of the cool gas is 5e8 M_sun, which probably stems from a mixture of ICM, stellar mass loss, and Type Ia supernova products. ~30-110 Myr are required to produce the observed metals in the cool gas. Finally, we put upper limits on possible non-thermal X-ray emission from M87 and, combining it with the 90 cm radio maps, we put lower limits of around ~0.5-1.0 muG on the magnetic field strength., Comment: 18 pages, accepted for publication in A&A. Some significant changes following the referee report

We present here the results of a detailed study of the X-ray properties of the cluster of galaxies Abell 3128 (z=0.06), based on the analysis of deep (100 ks) XMM-Newton data. The most obvious feature of the X-ray morphology of A3128 is the presence of two X-ray peaks separated by ~12'. By detecting the redshifted Fe K line, we find that the Northeast (NE) X-ray peak observed toward A3128 is a distant luminous cluster of galaxies at redshift z=0.44. Our subsequent optical spectroscopic observation of a distant radio bright galaxy in the centre of the NE X-ray peak with the Magellan telescope also revealed a redshift of z=0.44, confirming the association of the galaxy with the cluster seen in X-rays. We detect a gravitational arc around the galaxy. The properties of this galaxy indicate that it is the cD galaxy of the cluster in the background. The properties of the Southwest X-ray peak suggest that it is the core of a group merging with A3128 along our line of sight. Based on 2D maps of thermodynamic properties of the intra-cluster medium determined after subtracting a model for the background cluster, we conclude that an enhanced surface brightness region at a distance of ~2.8' from the centre of the galaxy distribution is the centre of the gravitational potential of the cluster A3128. The unrelaxed nature of A3128 can be attributed to its location in the high density environment of the Horologium-Reticulum supercluster., Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

We present an analysis of new Suzaku data and archival data from XMM-Newton of the cluster of galaxies Sersic 159-03, which has a strong soft X-ray excess emission component. The Suzaku observation confirms the presence of the soft excess emission, but it does not confirm the presence of redshifted OVII lines in the cluster. Radial profiles and 2D maps derived from XMM-Newton observations show that the soft excess emission has a strong peak at the position of the central cD galaxy and the maps do not show any significant azimuthal variations. Although the soft excess emission can be fitted equally well with both thermal and non-thermal models, its spatial distribution is neither consistent with the models of intercluster warm-hot filaments, nor with models of clumpy warm intracluster gas associated with infalling groups. Using the data obtained by the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometers we do not confirm the presence of the warm gas in the cluster centre with the expected properties assuming the soft excess is of thermal origin. The observed properties of the soft excess emission are consistent with the non-thermal interpretation. While the high density of relativistic electrons associated with the peak of the soft emission in the cluster centre might have been provided by an active galactic nucleus in the central cD galaxy, the underlying population might have been accelerated in diffuse shocks., Comment: to appear in A&A

The hot Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM) in clusters of galaxies is a very large repository of metals produced by supernovae. We aim to accurately measure the abundances in the ICM of many clusters and compare these data with metal yields produced by supernovae. Using the data archive of the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, we compile a sample of 22 clusters. We fit spectra extracted from the core regions and determine the abundances of silicon, sulfur, argon, alcium, iron, and nickel. The abundances from the spectral fits are subsequently fitted to supernova yields determined from several supernova type Ia and core-collapse supernova models. We find that the argon and calcium abundances cannot be fitted with currently favoured supernova type Ia models. We obtain a major improvement of the fit, when we use an empirically modified delayed-detonation model that is calibrated on the Tycho supernova remnant. The two modified parameters are the density where the sound wave in the supernova turns into a shock and the ratio of the specific internal energies of ions and electrons at the shock. Our fits also suggest that the core-collapse supernovae that contributed to the enrichment of the ICM had progenitors which were already enriched. The Ar/Ca ratio in clusters is a good touchstone for determining the quality of type Ia models. The core-collapse contribution, which is about 50% and not strongly dependent on the IMF or progenitor metallicity, does not have a significant impact on the Ar/Ca ratio. The number ratio between supernova type Ia and core-collapse supernovae suggests that binary systems in the appropriate mass range are very efficient (~ 5-16%) in eventually forming supernova type Ia explosions., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

The article describes the technical implementation and the performance of the z-vertex trigger (CIP2k), which is part of the H1-experiment at HERA., Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A

We present here a study of chemical abundances in the giant elliptical galaxy M 87 using high-resolution spectra obtained with the Reflection Grating Spectrometers during two deep XMM-Newton observations. While we confirm the two-temperature structure of the inter-stellar medium (ISM) in M 87, we also show that a continuous temperature distribution describes the data equally well. The high statistics allows us, for the first time, to determine relatively accurate abundance values also for carbon and nitrogen. The comparison of the abundance ratios of C, N, O and Fe in the ISM of M 87 with those in the stellar population of our Galaxy shows that the relative contribution of core-collapse supernovae to the enrichment of the ISM in M 87 is significantly less than in the Milky Way and indicates that the enrichment of the ISM by iron through Type Ia supernovae and by carbon and nitrogen is occurring in parallel. This suggests that the main source of carbon and nitrogen in M 87 are the low- and intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch stars. From the oxygen to iron abundance ratio in the hot gas we estimate that the relative number of core collapse and type Ia supernovae contributing to the enrichment of the ISM in the core of M 87 is ~60% and ~40% respectively. The spatial distributions of iron and oxygen are different. While the oxygen abundance distribution is flat the iron abundance peaks in the core and has a gradient throughout the ~4' wide field of view of the instrument, suggesting an early enrichment by core-collapse supernovae and a continuous contribution of type Ia supernovae., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

Recently the first detections of highly ionised gas associated with two Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) filaments have been reported. The evidence is based on X-ray absorption lines due to O VII and other ions observed by Chandra towards the bright blazar Mrk 421. We investigate the robustness of this detection by a re-analysis of the original Chandra LETGS spectra, the analysis of a large set of XMM-Newton RGS spectra of Mrk 421, and additional Chandra observations. We address the reliability of individual spectral features belonging to the absorption components, and assess the significance of the detection of these components. We also use Monte Carlo simulations of spectra. We confirm the apparent strength of several features in the Chandra spectra, but demonstrate that they are statistically not significant. This decreased significance is due to the number of redshift trials that are made and that are not taken into account in the original discovery paper. Therefore these features must be attributed to statistical fluctuations. This is confirmed by the RGS spectra, which have a higher signal to noise ratio than the Chandra spectra, but do not show features at the same wavelengths. Finally, we show that the possible association with a Ly-alpha absorption system also lacks sufficient statistical evidence. We conclude that there is insufficient observational proof for the existence of the two proposed WHIM filaments towards Mrk 421, the brightest X-ray blazar on the sky. Therefore, the highly ionised component of the WHIM still remains to be discovered., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal

Using a new long X-ray observation of the cluster of galaxies Sersic 159-03 with XMM-Newton, we derive radial temperature and abundance profiles using single- and multi-temperature models. The fits to the EPIC and RGS spectra prefer multi-temperature models especially in the core. The radial profiles of oxygen and iron measured with EPIC/RGS and the line profiles in RGS suggest that there is a dip in the O/Fe ratio in the centre of the cluster compared to its immediate surroundings. A possible explanation for the large scale metallicity distribution is that SNIa and SNII products are released in the ICM through ram-pressure stripping of in-falling galaxies. This causes a peaked metallicity distribution. In addition, SNIa in the central cD galaxy enrich mainly the centre of the cluster with iron. This excess of SNIa products is consistent with the low O/Fe ratio we detect in the centre of the cluster. We fit the abundances we obtain with yields from SNIa, SNII and Population-III stars to derive the clusters chemical evolution. We find that the measured abundance pattern does not require a Population-III star contribution. The relative contribution of the number of SNIa with respect to the total number of SNe which enrich the ICM is about 25-50%. Furthermore, we discuss the possible presence of a non-thermal component in the EPIC spectra. A potential source of this non-thermal emission can be inverse-Compton scattering between Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) photons and relativistic electrons, which are accelerated in bow shocks associated with ram-pressure stripping of in-falling galaxies., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We present here the results of a deep (130 ks) XMM-Newton observation of the cluster of galaxies 2A 0335+096. The deep exposure allows us to study in detail its temperature structure and its elemental abundances. We fit three different thermal models and find that the multi-temperature wdem model fits our data best. We find that the abundance structure of the cluster is consistent with a scenario where the relative number of Type Ia supernovae contributing to the enrichment of the intra-cluster medium is ~25%, while the relative number of core collapse supernovae is ~75%. Comparison of the observed abundances to the supernova yields does not allow us to put any constrains on the contribution of Pop III stars to the enrichment of the ICM. Radial abundance profiles show a strong central peak of both Type Ia and core collapse supernova products. Both the temperature and iron abundance maps show an asymmetry in the direction of the elongated morphology of the surface brightness. In particular the temperature map shows a sharp change over a brightness edge on the southern side of the core, which was identified as a cold front in the Chandra data. This suggests that the cluster is in the process of a merger with a subcluster. Moreover, we find that the blobs or filaments discovered in the core of the cluster by Chandra are, contrary to the previous results, colder than the ambient gas and they appear to be in pressure equilibrium with their environment., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 19 pages

SAX J1747.0-2853 is an X-ray transient which exhibited X-ray outbursts yearly between 1998 and 2001, and most probably also in 1976. The outburst of 2000 was the longest and brightest. We have analyzed X-ray data sets that focus on the 2000 outburst and were obtained with BeppoSAX, XMM-Newton and RXTE. The data cover unabsorbed 2--10 keV fluxes between 0.1 and 5.3 X 10^-9 erg/s/cm^2. The equivalent luminosity range is 6 X 10^35 to 2 X 10^37 erg/s. The 0.3--10 keV spectrum is well described by a combination of a multi-temperature disk blackbody, a hot Comptonization component and a narrow Fe-K emission line at 6.5 to 6.8 keV with an equivalent width of up to 285 eV. The hydrogen column density in the line of sight is (8.8+/-0.5) X 10^22 cm^-2. The most conspicuous spectral changes in this model are represented by variations of the temperature and radius of the inner edge of the accretion disk, and a jump of the equivalent width of the Fe-K line in one observation. Furthermore, 45 type-I X-ray bursts were unambiguously detected between 1998 and 2001 which all occurred during or close to outbursts. We derive a distance of 7.5+/-1.3 kpc which is consistent with previous determinations. Our failure to detect bursts for prolonged periods outside outbursts provides indirect evidence that the source returns to quiescence between outbursts and is a true transient., Comment: accepted by A&A, minor adjustments incorporated from copy editing process