The BeppoSAX View of the Hot Cluster Abell 2319

We present results from a BeppoSAX observation of the rich cluster Abell 2319. The broadband spectrum (2-50 keV) of the cluster can be adequately represented by an optically thin thermal emission model with a temperature of 9.6+/-0.3 keV and a metal abundance of 0.25+/-0.03 in solar units and with no evidence of a hard X-ray excess in the PDS spectrum. From the upper limit to the hard-tail component, we derive a lower limit of approximately 0.04 µG for the volume-averaged intracluster magnetic field. By performing spatially resolved spectroscopy in the medium energy band (2-10 keV), we find that the projected radial temperature and metal abundance profiles are constant out to a radius of 16&arcmin; (1.4 Mpc). A reduction of the temperature of one-third, when going from the cluster core out to 16&arcmin;, can be excluded in the present data at the 99% confidence level. From the analysis of the temperature and abundance maps, we find evidence of a temperature enhancement and of an abundance decrement in a region localized 6&arcmin;-8&arcmin; northeast of the core, where a merger event may be taking place. Finally, the temperature map indicates that the subcluster located northwest of the main cluster may be somewhat cooler than the rest of the cluster.