Metal abundances in the MACER simulations of the hot interstellar medium

Hot plasma is the dominant phase of the interstellar medium of early-type galaxies. It can originate from stellar mass losses, residual gas from the formation epoch, and accretion from outside the galaxies. Its evolution is linked to the dynamical structure of the host galaxy, to the supernova and active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback, and to (late-epoch) star formation in a way that has yet to be fully understood. Important clues about the origin and evolution of the hot gas come from the abundances of heavy metals that have been studied with increasing detail through XMM-Newton and Chandra. We present recent high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of the hot gas evolution that include the above processes, where several chemical species, originating in asymptotic giant branch stars and supernovae of types Ia and II, have also been considered. The high resolution, of few parsecs in the central galactic region, allows us to track the metal enrichment, transportation, and dilution throughout the galaxy. The comparison of model results with observed abundances demonstrates good agreement for the region enriched by the AGN wind but also shows discrepancies for the diffuse hot gas; the latter indicates the need for a revision of standard assumptions and/or the importance of neglected effects due to the dust and/or residual uncertainties in deriving abundances from the X-ray spectra.