We present an ultraviolet quasar absorption line analysis of metal lines associated with three strong intervening H i absorbers ( with N ( \hbox { { H~ { } } \kern 1.0 pt { \sc i } } ) > 10 ^ { 16.5 } cm ^ { -2 } ) detected in the outskirts of Sunyaev-Zel ’ dovich ( SZ ) effect-selected galaxy clusters ( z _ { cl } \sim 0.4 - 0.5 ) , within clustocentric impact parameters of \rho _ { cl } \sim ( 1.6 - 4.7 ) r _ { 500 } . Discovered in a recent set of targeted far-UV HST /COS spectroscopic observations , these absorbers have the highest H i column densities ever observed in the outskirts of galaxy clusters , and are also rich in metal absorption lines .
Photoionization models yield single phase solutions for the three absorbers with gas densities of n _ { \hbox { { H~ { } } } } \sim 10 ^ { -3 } -10 ^ { -4 } cm ^ { -3 } and metallicities of [ X/H ] > -1.0 ( from one-tenth solar to near-solar ) .
The widths of detected absorption lines suggest gas temperatures of T \sim 10 ^ { 4 } K. The inferred densities ( temperatures ) are significantly higher ( lower ) compared to the X-ray emitting intracluster medium in cluster cores . The absorbers are tracing a cool phase of the intracluster gas in the cluster outskirts , either associated with gas stripped from cluster galaxies via outflows , tidal streams or ram-pressure forces , or denser regions within the intracluster medium that were uniformly chemically enriched from an earlier epoch of enhanced supernova and AGN feedback .