Probing the Local Bubble with XMM-Newton

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The Local Bubble is a 100-pc bubble of soft-X-ray-emitting gas surrounding the solar neighborhood. From X-ray spectroscopy, we can determine the plasma's thermal properties, ionization state, and chemical abundances, and so spectroscopy is the key to understanding how the Local Bubble formed.We present an analysis of spectra obtained from XMM-Newton pointings on and off a nearby absorbing filament at high southern Galactic latitude (l = 278.7deg, b = -45.3deg). Both spectra reveal O VII and O VIII emission features, though it is possible that some of the on-filament O VIII is due to halo emission that has leaked through the filament. We simultaneously fit the on- and off-filament XMM and ROSAT spectra with models that include Local Bubble, halo, and extragalactic components. We find that the Local Bubble emission is consistent with that expected from a collisionally ionized plasma in equilibrium, with a measured temperature log(T/K) = 6.06 +0.02/-0.04. The halo emission, however, requires a two-component model, with log(T/K) = 5.93 +0.04/-0.03 and 6.43 +/- 0.02. These temperatures are in excellent agreement with earlier values determined from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS), though the Local Bubble emission measure is a factor of 3 to 10 larger than that derived from the RASS. Furthermore, our Local Bubble temperature is significantly lower than values reported recently for other XMM-Newton observations of the Local Bubble. There is also a hint that oxygen is slightly over-abundant in the Local Bubble. A comparison of our observational results with the predictions of Local Bubble formation models is in progress.

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