The Suzaku Observation of RCW 86 Northeastern Shell

This paper reports the Suzaku results on the northeast shell of RCW 86. With the spatial and spectral analysis, we separated the X-rays into three distinct components; low (kTe ∼0.3 keV) and high (kTe ∼1.8 keV) temperature plasmas and a non-thermal component, and discovered their spatial distributions are different from each other. The low temperature plasma is dominated at the east rim, whereas the non-thermal emission is the brightest at the northeast rim which is spatially connected from the east rim. The high temperature plasma, found to contain the ∼6.42 keV line (Kα of low-ionized iron), is enhanced at the inward region with respect to the east rim and has no spatial correlation with the non-thermal X-ray (the northeast). The FeKα line, therefore, is not related to the non-thermal emission but originates from Fe-rich ejecta heated to the high temperatures by the reverse shock. Since the metal abundances of the low temperature plasma are sub-solar, the most possible origin of this component is interstellar medium heated by a blast wave. The non-thermal X-ray, which has a power-law index of ∼ 2.8, is likely to be synchrotron emission. A possible scenario to explain these morphologies and spectra is: A fast moving blast wave in a thin cavity of OB association collided with a dense interstellar medium or cloud at the east region very recently. As the result, the reverse shock in this interior decelerated, and arrived at the Fe-rich region of the ejecta and heated it. In the