High Spatial Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy of Cas A with Chandra

Abstract

We present high spatial resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A with the Chandra observations. The X-ray emitting region of this remnant was divided into 38 × 34 pixels of 10''× 10'' each. Spectra of 960 pixels were created and fitted with an absorbed two component non-equilibrium ionization model. From the results of the spectral analysis we obtained maps of absorbing column density, temperatures, ionization ages, and the abundances of Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ca and Fe. The Si, S and possibly Ca abundance maps show obvious jet structures, while Fe does not follow the jet but seems to be distributed perpendicular to it. The abundances of Si, S and Ca show tight correlations between one another over a range of about two dex. This suggests that they are ejecta from explosive O-burning and incomplete Si-burning. Meanwhile, the Ne abundance is well correlated with that of Mg, indicating them to be the ashes of explosive C/Ne burning. The Fe abundance is positively correlated with that of Si when the latter is lower than 3 times the solar value, and is negatively correlated when higher. We suggest that such a two phase correlation is due to the different ways in which Fe was synthesized.