High-resolution x-ray spectroscopy of the multiphase interstellar medium toward Cyg X-2

Abstract

High-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy is a powerful diagnostic tool for probing chemical and physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) at various phases. We present detections of K transition absorption lines from the low-ionization ions of OI, OII, NeI, NeII, and NeIII, and the high-ionization ones of OVI, OVII, OVIII, NeIX, and MgXI, as well as details of neutral absorption edges from Mg, Ne, and O in an unprecedented high-quality spectrum of the low-mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2. These absorption features trace the intervening ISM which is indicated by the unshifted line centroids with respect to the rest-frame wavelengths of the corresponding atomic transitions. We have measured the column densities of each ion. We complement these measurements with the radio HI and optical Hα observations toward the same sight line and estimate the mean abundances of Ne, O, and Mg in the cool phase to Ne/H = 0.84+0.13-0.10 × 10-4, O/H = 3.83+0.48-0.43 × 10-4, and Mg/H = 0.35+0.09-0.11 × 10-4, and O and Mg in the hot phase to O/H = 5.81+1.30-1.34 × 10 -4 and Mg/H = 0.33+0.09-0.09 × 10 -4, respectively. These results indicate a mild depletion of oxygen into dust grains in the cool phase and little or no depletion of magnesium. We also find that absorption from highly ionized ions in the hot Galactic disk gas can account for most of the absorption observed toward the extragalactic sight lines like Mrk 421. The bulk of the observed OVI likely originates from the conductive interfaces between the cool and hot gases, from which a significant amount of NV and CIV emission is predicted. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.