Enrichment and Pre-Heating in Intragroup Gas from Galactic Outflows

Abstract

We examine metal and entropy content in galaxy groups having T_X~0.5-2 keV in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Our simulations include a well-constrained prescription for galactic outflows following momentum-driven wind scalings, and a sophisticated chemical evolution model. Our simulation with no outflows reproduces observed iron abundances in X-ray emitting gas, but the oxygen abundance is too low; including outflows yields iron and oxygen abundances in good agreement with data. X-ray measures of [O/Fe] primarily reflect metal distribution mechanisms into hot gas, not the ratio of Type Ia to Type II supernovae within the group. Iron abundance increases by x2 from z=1-0 independent of group size, consistent with that seen in clusters, while [O/Fe] drops by ~30%. Core entropy versus temperature is elevated over self-similar predictions regardless of outflows due to radiative cooling removing low-entropy gas, but outflows provide an additional entropy contribution below 1 keV. This results in a noticeable break in the L_X-T_X relation below 1 keV, as observed. Importantly, outflows serve to reduce the stellar content of groups to observed levels. Radial profiles from simulations are in broad agreement with observations, but there remain non-trivial discrepancies that may reflect an excess of late-time star formation in central group galaxies in our simulations. Our model with outflows suggests a connection between physical processes of galaxy formation and both pre-heating and enrichment in intragroup gas, though more definitive conclusions must await a model that simultaneously suppresses cooling flows as observed.