2010MNRAS.406..223Z -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 406, 223-229 (2010/July-3)
The origin of the X-ray-emitting plasma in the eastern edge of the Cygnus loop.
ZHOU X., BOCCHINO F., MICELI M., ORLANDO S. and CHEN Y.
Abstract (from CDS):
The Cygnus Loop is interacting with a protrusion of the cavity wall in its eastern edge (the XA region), where the X-ray emission is very bright. The complexity of the environment and the non-linear physical processes of the shock-cloud interaction make the origin of the X-ray emission still not well understood. Our purpose is to understand the physical origin of the X-ray emission in the XA region, addressing, in particular, the role of thermal conduction in the interaction process. We analysed two XMM-Newton data sets, performing image analysis and spatially resolved spectral analysis on a set of homogeneous regions. We applied a recently developed diagnostic tool to compare spectral analysis results with predictions of theoretical models, and to estimate the efficiency of thermal conduction on the X-ray-emitting shocked plasma. We found that the inhomogeneous cavity wall contains both large clumps (the protrusion) and small isolated clumps with different densities. A large indentation bent over to the south is detected. The abundance of the surrounding interstellar medium is ∼0.2 times solar value. We confirmed the important role of thermal conduction in the evolution of X-ray-emitting plasma during shock-cloud interaction.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 RAS
Journal keyword(s):
ISM: clouds - ISM: individual objects: Cygnus Loop - ISM: individual objects: G74.0-8.5 - ISM: supernova remnants - X-rays: ISM
Simbad objects:
2
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