Diffuse X-Ray Emission from the Carina Nebula Observed with Suzaku

Abstract

A number of giant HII regions are associated with soft diffuse X-ray emission. Among these, the Carina nebula possesses the brightest soft diffuse emission. The required plasma temperature and thermal energy can be produced by collisions or termination of fast winds from main-sequence or embedded young O stars, but the extended emission is often observed from regions apart from massive stellar clusters. The origin of the X-ray emission is unknown. The XIS CCD camera onboard Suzaku has the best spectral resolution for extended soft sources so far, and is therefore capable of measuring key emission lines in the soft band. Suzaku observed the core and the eastern side of the Carina nebula (Car-D1) in 2005 Aug and 2006 June, respectively. Spectra of the south part of the core and Car-D1 similarly showed strong L-shell lines of iron ions and K-shell lines of silicon ions, while in the north of the core these lines were much weaker. Fitting the spectra with an absorbed thin-thermal plasma model showed kT~0.2, 0.6 keV and NH~1-2e21 cm-2 with a factor of 2-3 abundance variation in oxygen, magnesium, silicon and iron. The plasma might originate from an old supernova, or a super shell of multiple supernovae.