Constraining SN Ia models using X-ray spectra of clusters of galaxies

We present constraints on theoretical models of Type Ia SNe using spatially resolved ASCA X-ray spectroscopy of four galaxy clusters: Abell 496, Abell 2199, Abell 3571 & Perseus. Gli four clusters have central Fe abundance enhancements and an ensemble of abundance ratios are used to show that most of the Fe in the central regions of the clusters comes from SN Ia. At the center of each cluster, simultaneous analysis of spectra from all ASCA instruments shows that the Ni to Fe abundance ratio (normalized by the solar ratio) is approximate to 4. We use the Ni/Fe ratio as a discriminator between SN Ia models: the Ni/Fe ratio of ejecta from the Convective Deflagration model W7 is consistent with the observations, while those of delayed detonation models are not consistent at the 90% confidence level.