Evidence for Charge Exchange Emission in Supernova Remnant N132D from XRISM/Resolve Observations
Evidence for Charge Exchange Emission in Supernova Remnant N132D from XRISM/Resolve Observations
Liyi Gu, Hiroya Yamaguchi, Adam Foster, Satoru Katsuda, Hiroyuki Uchida, Makoto Sawada, Frederick Scott Porter, Brian J. Williams, Robert Petre, Aya Bamba, Yukikatsu Terada, Manan Agarwal, Anne Decourchelle, Matteo Guainazzi, Richard Kelley, Caroline Kilbourne, Michael Loewenstein, Hironori Matsumoto, Eric D. Miller, Yuken Ohshiro, Paul Plucinsky, Hiromasa Suzuki, Makoto Tashiro, Jacco Vink, Yuichiro Ezoe, Ehud Behar, Randall Smith
AbstractXRISM has delivered one of its first light observations on N132D, the X-ray brightest supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Utilizing 193 ks of high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy data, we conduct a comprehensive search for charge exchange emission. By incorporating a charge exchange model into our spectral analysis, we observe an improvement in the fits of two weak features at 2.41 keV and 2.63 keV. These features, with a combined significance of 99.6%, are consistent with transitions from highly ionized silicon ions in high Rydberg states, which are unique indicators of charge exchange. Our analysis constrains the charge exchange flux to no more than 4% of the total source flux within the 1.7-3.0 keV band, and places an upper limit on the charge exchange interaction velocity at 450 km/s. This result supports ongoing shock-cloud interactions within N132D and highlights the unique capabilities of XRISM to probe the complex physical processes at play.