O vi Emission from Superbubbles in the Large Magellanic Cloud11Based on observations made with the NASA‐CNES‐CSA Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. FUSE is operated for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University under NASA contract NAS 5‐32985.

Abstract

ABSTRACTObservations of interstellar regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) obtained serendipitously by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) have revealed O vi λ1032 emission from several superbubbles and from one region not associated with any nebula. In every case, the O vi emission is centered at or around the LMC velocity of +275 km s−1. The O vi surface brightnesses (8900–21,800 LU [line unit; 1 photon s−1 cm−2 sr−1]) toward superbubbles are significantly higher than the value (6400 LU) in the one LMC diffuse‐gas spectrum, and also higher than in spectra of the diffuse hot gas emission in our Galaxy (Dixon et al.). The superbubble O vi brightnesses are lower than those of supernova remnants, but their values are consistent with the emission arising in supernova‐driven shocks. However, other emission mechanisms, such as conductive interfaces and turbulent mixing layers, are not excluded by our data.