How are stellar nucleosynthetic products transported and mixed through the ISM, CGM, and ICM while preserving a recoverable enrichment history?

Scope

In scope

X-ray, optical, and infrared abundances; metallicity gradients; dust depletion; enriched outflows; and ICM mixing.

Out of scope

Single-element detections without spatial, temporal, or transport information.

Why it matters

Connects stellar evolution, feedback history, and matter cycling through galactic and cluster media.

Competing explanations

• Early uniform pre-enrichment dominates
• Ongoing outflows and stripping dominate
• Turbulence or jets rapidly erase enrichment history
• Dust depletion or multiphase fitting creates apparent gradients

Discriminating observables

• Multi-element abundance ratios and radial gradients
• Spatially resolved X-ray line spectroscopy
• Metallicity correlations with cold/hot gas kinematics

Blockers

• Atomic data and calibration
• Multitemperature bias
• Dust depletion
• Yield-model degeneracy