Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-12-19
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 350 (2004) 129
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
12 pages, 8 figures, to appear in MNRAS, figures with full resolution available at http://www.star.le.ac.uk/~mas/research/pape
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07571.x
We present an analysis of a recent XMM-Newton observation of Sgr A East, a supernova remnant located close to the Galactic Centre. Very high quality X-ray spectra reveal many emission lines from highly ionized atoms consistent with a multi-temperature thin thermal plasma in ionization equilibrium. We use a two-temperature model to fit the spectra and derive temperatures of 1 keV and 4 keV. There is significant concentration of iron towards the centre of the X-ray source such that the iron abundance varies from ~4 times solar in the core down to ~0.5 solar in the outer regions, which contrasts with the rather uniform distribution of other metals such as sulfur, argon and calcium, which have abundances in the range 1--3. The derived total energy, mass, and the abundance pattern are consistent with a single supernova event, either of type-Ia or type-II origin, involving a relatively low-mass progenitor star. A weak 6.4-keV neutral iron fluorescence line is also detected, the illumination source most likely being Sgr A East itself. The morphology and spectral characteristics of Sgr A East show no clear linkage to putative past activity in Sgr A*.
Decourchelle Anne
Predehl Peter
Sakano Masaaki
Warwick Robert S.
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