Structure of the X-ray-emitting gas in the Hydra A Cluster of galaxies

The temperature and abundance structure in the intracluster medium (ICM) of the Hydra A Cluster of galaxies is studied with ASCA and ROSAT. The effect of the large extended outskirts in the point-spread function of the X-ray telescope on ASCA is included in this analysis, In the X-ray brightness profile, the strong central excess above a single beta model, identified in the Einstein and ROSAT data, is also found in the harder energy band (>4 keV). A simultaneous fit of five annular spectra taken with the GIS instrument shows a radial distribution of the temperature and metal abundance, A significant central enhancement in the abundance distribution is found, while the temperature profile suggests that the ICM is approximately isothermal, with a temperature of similar to 3.5 keV. The ROSAT position-sensitive proportional counter (PSPC spectrum in the central 115 region indicates a significantly lower temperature than the GIS result. A joint analysis of the GIS and PSPC data reveals that the spectra can be described by a two-temperature model as well as by a cooling Bow model, In both cases, the hot-phase gas with a temperature of similar to 3.5 keV occupies more than 90% of the total emission measure within 1.5' from the cluster center. The estimated mass of the cooler (0.5-0.7 kee) component is similar to(2-6) x 10(9) M., which is comparable to the mass of hot halos seen in non-cD ellipticals. The cooling Bow model gives the mass deposition rate of 60 +/- 30 M. yr(-1), an order of magnitude lower than the previous estimation.