Where is the Supervirial Gas? III. Insights from X-ray Shadow Observations and a revised Model for the Soft Diffuse X-ray Background

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Main Authors: Gupta, Anjali, Mathur, Smita, Kingsbury, Joshua, Korkmaz, Esma, Das, Sanskriti, Krongold, Yair, Roy, Manami, Lara-DI, Armando
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Gupta, Anjali
Mathur, Smita
Kingsbury, Joshua
Korkmaz, Esma
Das, Sanskriti
Krongold, Yair
Roy, Manami
Lara-DI, Armando
author_facet Gupta, Anjali
Mathur, Smita
Kingsbury, Joshua
Korkmaz, Esma
Das, Sanskriti
Krongold, Yair
Roy, Manami
Lara-DI, Armando
contents Shadow observations provide a powerful tool to separate foreground components of the soft diffuse X-ray background (SDXB) from the background components. Such observations have now established that the ``local'' foreground is made of the solar wind charge exchange and the local bubble, and the background emission is from the extended circumgalactic medium (CGM) of the Milky Way and from the unresolved extragalactic sources. New data and careful analyses of the SDXB led to two new discoveries in recent years: (1) excess emission near 0.5 keV that is identified as the NVII emission line, and (2) excess emission near 0.8-1.0 keV that is identified with an additional, super-virial temperature hot thermal component of the CGM. The goal of this paper is to use Suzaku shadow observations along six sightlines to determine whether either of these components is from the ``local'' sources. We eliminate the ambiguity regarding the origin of NVII emission, ruling out the local origin. We confirm that the Milky Way CGM contains nitrogen-rich plasma, with a super-solar average (N/O) of 2.6+-0.5, and suggest that nitrogen-enhanced plasma is widespread throughout the CGM. We find super-solar Ne abundance in two sighlines, also from the CGM. Similarly, we rule out the local origin of the hot thermal component and confirm that it is present beyond the shadowing clouds. Furthermore, we provide a revised model of the soft diffuse X-ray background, which is crucial for extragalactic astronomy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_13331
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Where is the Supervirial Gas? III. Insights from X-ray Shadow Observations and a revised Model for the Soft Diffuse X-ray Background
Gupta, Anjali
Mathur, Smita
Kingsbury, Joshua
Korkmaz, Esma
Das, Sanskriti
Krongold, Yair
Roy, Manami
Lara-DI, Armando
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Shadow observations provide a powerful tool to separate foreground components of the soft diffuse X-ray background (SDXB) from the background components. Such observations have now established that the ``local'' foreground is made of the solar wind charge exchange and the local bubble, and the background emission is from the extended circumgalactic medium (CGM) of the Milky Way and from the unresolved extragalactic sources. New data and careful analyses of the SDXB led to two new discoveries in recent years: (1) excess emission near 0.5 keV that is identified as the NVII emission line, and (2) excess emission near 0.8-1.0 keV that is identified with an additional, super-virial temperature hot thermal component of the CGM. The goal of this paper is to use Suzaku shadow observations along six sightlines to determine whether either of these components is from the ``local'' sources. We eliminate the ambiguity regarding the origin of NVII emission, ruling out the local origin. We confirm that the Milky Way CGM contains nitrogen-rich plasma, with a super-solar average (N/O) of 2.6+-0.5, and suggest that nitrogen-enhanced plasma is widespread throughout the CGM. We find super-solar Ne abundance in two sighlines, also from the CGM. Similarly, we rule out the local origin of the hot thermal component and confirm that it is present beyond the shadowing clouds. Furthermore, we provide a revised model of the soft diffuse X-ray background, which is crucial for extragalactic astronomy.
title Where is the Supervirial Gas? III. Insights from X-ray Shadow Observations and a revised Model for the Soft Diffuse X-ray Background
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13331