Bulk X-Ray Doppler Velocities in the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

Abstract

We map the average line-of-sight velocities of the X-ray-emitting mass in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A using measurements of the centroid of the Si-Heα blend with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. This 4'' scale map confirms the broad trends noted in previous studies, namely, that the line-of-sight velocity scale is roughly 2000-3000 km s-1, with relatively more blueshifted material in the southeastern region of the remnant than in the northwest; new details are that the northwestern region consists of two arcs, with the southernmost one representing the most redshifted X-ray-emitting material in Cas A. These results are consistent with contemporaneous results from XMM-Newton. The X-ray patterns resemble the complex velocity patterns measured at optical wavelengths for much denser ejecta, and they support the growing body of evidence that the explosion and subsequent evolution of Cas A were highly asymmetrical.