The BeppoSAX view of the hot cluster Abell 2319

We present results from a BeppoSAX observation of the rich cluster Abell 23 19. The broadband spectrum (2-50 keV) of the cluster can be adequately repr esented by an optically thin thermal emission model with a temperature of 9 .6 +/- 0.3 keV and a metal abundance of 0.25 +/- 8.03 in solar units and wi th no evidence of a hard X-ray excess in the PDS spectrum. From the upper l imit to the hard-tail component, we derive a lower limit of similar to 0.04 mu G for the volume-averaged intracluster magnetic field. By performing sp atially resolved spectroscopy in the medium energy band (2-10 keV), we find that the projected radial temperature and metal abundance profiles are con stant out to a radius of 16' (1.4 Mpc). A reduction of the temperature of o ne-third, when going from the cluster core out to 16', can be excluded in t he present data at the 99% confidence level. From the analysis of the tempe rature and abundance maps, we find evidence of a temperature enhancement an d of an abundance decrement in a region localized 6'-8' northeast of the co re, 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.