Plasma Diagnostics of the Supernova Remnant N132D Using Deep XMM-Newton Observations with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer

Abstract

We present XMM-Newton observations of N132D, the X-ray brightest supernova remnant (SNR) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) that enables high-resolution spectroscopy in the soft X-ray band. A dozen emission lines from L-shell transitions of various elements at intermediate charge states are newly detected in the RGS data integrating the ~200-ks on-axis observations. The 0.3-2.0-keV spectra require at least three components of thermal plasmas with different electron temperatures and indicate clear evidence of non-equilibrium ionization (NEI). Our detailed spectral diagnostics further reveal that the forbidden-to-resonance line ratios of O VII and Ne IX are both higher than expected for typical NEI plasmas. This enhancement could be attributed to either resonance scattering or emission induced by charge exchange in addition to a possible contribution from the superposition of multiple temperature components, although the lack of spatial information prevents us from concluding which is most likely.

18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Scientific Objectives of the Hot Universe Baryon Surveyor (HUBS) Mission
• High-resolution Laboratory Measurements of K-shell X-ray Line Polarization and Excitation Cross Sections in Heliumlike S XV Ions
• Charge Exchange X-ray Emission Detected in Multiple Shells of Supernova Remnant G296.1-0.5
• High resolution X-ray study of supernova remnant J0453.6$-$6829 with unusually high forbidden-to-resonance ratio
• Unusual X-ray Oxygen Line Ratios of SN 1987A Arising From the Absorption of Galactic Hot Interstellar Medium
• Measurement of the Forward Shock Velocities of the Supernova Remnant N132D Based on the Thermal X-ray Emission
• XMM-Newton Observations of the High Temperature Plasma in the Large Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnant N132D