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Masaru Ueno, Rie Sato, Jun Kataoka, Aya Bamba, Ilana Harrus, Junko Hiraga, John P. Hughes, Caroline A. Kilbourne, Katsuji Koyama, Motohide Kokubun, Hiroshi Nakajima, Masanobu Ozaki, Robert Petre, Tadayuki Takahashi, Takaaki Tanaka, Hiroshi Tomida, Hiroya Yamaguchi, A Suzaku Observation of the Low-Ionization Fe-Line Emission from RCW 86, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Volume 59, Issue sp1, 30 January 2007, Pages S171–S176, https://doi.org/10.1093/pasj/59.sp1.S171
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Abstract
The newly operational X-ray satellite Suzaku observed the southwestern quadrant of the supernova remnant RCW 86 in 2006 February to study the nature of the 6.4 keV emission line first detected with the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astronomy (ASCA). The new data confirm the existence of the line, localizing it for the first time; most of the line emission is adjacent and interior to the forward shock, and not at the locus of the continuum hard emission. We also report the first detection of a 7.1 keV line, which we interpret as |$\mathrm{K}\beta$| emission from low-ionization iron. The Fe K line features are consistent with a non-equilibrium plasma of Fe-rich ejecta with |$n_{\mathrm{e}} \, t \lesssim 10^{9} \,\mathrm{cm}^{-3} \,\mathrm{s}$| and |$kT_{\mathrm{e}} \sim 5 \,\mathrm{keV}$|. This combination of low |$n_{\mathrm{e}} \, t$| and high |$k T_{\mathrm{e}}$| suggests collisionless electron heating in an SNR shock. The Fe |$\mathrm{K}\alpha$| line shows evidence for intrinsic broadening, with a width of 47 (34–59) eV (99% error region). The difference in the spatial distributions of the hard continuum above 3 keV and the Fe K line emission supports a synchrotron origin for the hard continuum.
