WE PROPOSE DEEP OBSERVATIONS OF TWO MASSIVE GALAXY CLUSTERS AT REDSHIFTS OF 1.84 AND 1.03 TO MEASURE THE METALLICITY OF THE ICM AT VERY HIGH REDSHIFTS. THESE DATA WILL DEFINITIVELY TEST THE. EARLY ENRICHMENT SCENARIO IN WHICH MOST OF THE METAL ENRICHMENT OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM OCCURS BEFORE CLUSTERS FORM DURING THE PERIOD OF MAXIMAL STAR FORMATION AND BLACK HOLE ACTIVITY MORE THAN 10 GYR AGO. THIS SCENARIO IS SUPPORTED BY HIGH-PRECISION SUZAKU MEASUREMENTS OF A HOMOGENEOUS IRON DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEARBY PERSEUS CLUSTER EXTENDING TO THE VIRIAL RADIUS. OUR PROPOSAL WILL PROVIDE A DIRECT AND PRECISE TEST OF EARLY ENRICHMENT PROBING THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF IRON IN OUR Z=1.03 TARGET AND THE OVERALL CORE-EXCISED METALLICITY OF ONE OF THE MOST LUMINOUS DISTANT CLUSTERS KNOWN.
$87,802FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
The Leland Stanford Junior University