Hot atmospheres of massive galaxies are enriched with metals. Elemental abundances measured in the X-ray band have been used to study the chemical enrichment of supernova remnants, elliptical... Show moreHot atmospheres of massive galaxies are enriched with metals. Elemental abundances measured in the X-ray band have been used to study the chemical enrichment of supernova remnants, elliptical galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies. Here we measure the elemental abundances of the hot atmosphere of luminous infrared galaxy Arp 299 observed with XMM-Newton. To measure the abundances in the hot atmosphere, we use a multi-temperature thermal plasma model, which provides a better fit to the Reflection Grating Spectrometer data. The observed Fe/O abundance ratio is subsolar, while those of Ne/O and Mg/O are slightly above solar. Core-collapse supernovae (SNcc) are the dominant metal factory of elements like O, Ne, and Mg. We find some deviations between the observed abundance patterns and theoretical ones from a simple chemical enrichment model. One possible explanation is that massive stars with M-star greater than or similar to 23-27 M-circle dot might not explode as SNcc and enrich the hot atmosphere. This is in accordance with the missing massive SNcc progenitors problem, where very massive progenitors M-star greater than or similar to 18 M-circle dot of SNcc have not been clearly detected. It is also possible that theoretical SNcc nucleosynthesis yields of Mg/O yields are underestimated. Show less
In recent years, winds were recognized as an important ingredient in the AGN picture. Outflows of photoionized gas, which produce blueshifted absorption features detectable in the X-ray and in the... Show moreIn recent years, winds were recognized as an important ingredient in the AGN picture. Outflows of photoionized gas, which produce blueshifted absorption features detectable in the X-ray and in the UV band, are present in about 50% of Seyfert 1 galaxies. Combining observations at high spectral resolution with photoionization modeling techniques, the kinetics, and the ionization conditions of the outflowing gas can be diagnosed with high accuracy. In this thesis, we applied these methods to three cases of study, obtaining a variety of results. In the X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0419-577, we detected the absorption lines from a galactic scale outflow already observed in the UV. In the case of the prototypical type 1 AGN NGC 5548, we discovered a lowly-ionized, patchy wind located in the nuclear region. We show that the emergence of this obscuring wind have drastically changed the spectral appearance of the source in the soft X-ray and in the UV band. Finally, we characterized a photoionized gas outflow in 4C +74.26, which is one of the few radio-loud AGN in which signatures of photoionized gas could be detected. Show less
