XMM Observations of Low Mass Groups

ASCA and ROSAT observations show that many groups of galaxies contain diffusehot gas and that the metalicity of this gas quickly decreases with decreasinggas temperature. This trend is thought to occur because winds from earlyellipticals cannot be contained by low mass groups. While high temperature, highmetalicity groups are currently included in the XMM GTO program the groups withthe lowest masses (lowest temperature and abundances) are not. These low massgroups may be important contributors of metals to the intergalactic medium. Wepropose to use the excellent spatial and spectral capabilities of XMM todetermine the enrichement history of the hot gas and thus infer the amount ofmaterial which may have been ejected from poor groups and thus enriching the IGM truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]