arXiv subjects

Sanskriti Das

Publications and source records attributed to Sanskriti Das.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Thermal and chemical properties of the eROSITA bubbles from Suzaku observations

The X-ray bright bubbles at the Galactic Center provide an opportunity to understand the effects of feedback on galaxy evolution. The shells of the eROSITA bubbles show enhanced X-ray emission over the sky background. Previously, these shells were assumed to have a single temperature component and to trace the shock-heated lower-temperature halo gas. Using Suzaku observations, we show that the X-ray emission of the shells is more complex and best described by a two-temperature thermal model: one component close to the Galaxy's virial temperature and the other at super-virial temperatures. Furthermore, we demonstrate that temperatures of the virial and super-virial components are similar in the shells and in the ambient medium, although the emission measures are significantly higher in the shells. This leads us to conclude that the eROSITA bubble shells are X-ray bright because they trace denser gas, not because they are hotter. Given that the pre- and post-shock temperatures are similar and the compression ratio of the shock is high, we rule out that the bubble shells trace adiabatic shocks, in contrast to what was assumed in previous studies. We also observe non-solar Ne/O and Mg/O ratios in the shells, favouring stellar feedback models for the formation of the bubbles and settling a long-standing debate on their origin.

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arXiv2023

Detection of a Super-Virial Hot Component in the Milky Way Circumgalactic Medium Along Multiple Sight-Lines by Using the Stacking Technique

The study of the elusive hot component ($T \gtrsim 10^7$ K) of the Milky Way circumgalactic medium (CGM) is a novel topic to understand Galactic formation and evolution. In this work, we use the stacking technique through 46 lines of sight with Chandra ACIS-S HETG totaling over 10Ms of exposure time and 9 lines of sight with ACIS-S LETG observations totaling over 1Ms of exposure time, to study in absorption the presence of highly ionized metals arising from the super-virial temperature phase of the CGM. Focusing in the spectral range $4 - 8$ $Å$, we were able to confirm the presence of this hot phase with high significance. We detected transitions of Si XIV K$α$ (with total significance of 6.0$σ$) and, for the first time, SXVI K (total significance 4.8$σ$) in the rest frame of our own Galaxy. For S XVI K$α$ we found a column density of $1.50^{+0.44}_{-0.38} \times 10^{16} \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$. For Si XIV K$α$ we measured a column density of $0.87\pm{0.16} \times 10^{16} \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$. The lines of sight used in this work are spread across the sky, probing widely separated regions of the CGM. Therefore, our results indicate that this newly discovered hot medium extends throughout the halo, and is not related only to the Galactic Bubbles. The hot gas location, distribution, and covering factor, however, remain unknown. This component might contribute significantly to the missing baryons and metals in the Milky Way.

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arXiv2022

The hot circumgalactic medium of the Milky-Way: new insights from XMM-Newton observations

We present XMM-Newton observations around the sightline of Mrk 421. The emission spectrum of the Milky Way circumgalactic medium (CGM) shows that a two phase model is a better fit to the data compared to a single phase model; in addition to the warm-hot virial phase at log ($T/$K) = $6.33_{-0.02}^{+0.03}$, a hot super-virial phase at log ($T/$K) = $6.88_{-0.07}^{+0.08}$ is required. Furthermore, we present observations of five fields within 5 degrees of the primary field. Their spectra also require a two-phase model at warm-hot and hot temperatures. The hot phase, first discovered in Das et al. 2019, appears to be widespread. By chemical tagging we show that emission from the supevirial phase comes from the L-shell transitions of Fe XVIII-FeXXII, and that the range of temperatures probed in emission is distinct from that in absorption. We detect scatter in temperature and emission measure (EM) in both the phases, and deduce that there is small-scale density inhomogeneity in the MW CGM. The emitting gas likely has higher density, possibly from regions close to the disk of the MW, while the absorption in the virial phase may arise from low-density gas extended out to the virial radius of the MW. The presence of the super-virial phase far from the regions around the Galactic center implicates physical processes unrelated to the activity at the Galactic center. Hot outflows resulting from star-formation activity throughout the Galactic disk are likely responsible for producing this phase.

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arXiv2021

The hot circumgalactic medium of the Milky Way: evidence for super-virial, virial, and sub-virial temperature, non-solar chemical composition, and non-thermal line broadening

For the first time, we present the simultaneous detection and characterization of three distinct phases at $>10^5$ K in $z=0$ absorption, using deep $\it{Chandra}$ observations toward Mrk 421. The extraordinarily high signal-to-noise ratio ($\geqslant60$) of the spectra has allowed us to detect a $\it{hot}$ phase of the Milky Way circumgalactic medium (CGM) at 3.2$^{+1.5}_{-0.5}\times$ 10$^7$ K, coexisting with a $\textit{warm-hot}$ phase at 1.5$\pm$0.1$\times$10$^6$ K and a $\textit{warm}$ phase at 3.0$\pm$0.4$\times$10$^5$ K. The $\textit{warm-hot}$ phase is at the virial temperature of the Galaxy, and the $\textit{warm}$ phase may have cooled from the $\textit{warm-hot}$ phase, but the super-virial $\textit{hot}$ phase remains a mystery. We find that [C/O] in the $\textit{warm}$ and $\textit{warm-hot}$ phases, [Mg/O] in the $\textit{warm-hot}$ phase and [Ne/O] in the $\textit{hot}$ phase are super-solar, and the $\textit{hot}$ and the $\textit{warm-hot}$ phases are $α-$enhanced. Non-thermal line broadening is evident in the $\textit{warm-hot}$ and the $\textit{hot}$ phases and it dominates the total line broadening. Our results indicate that the $>10^5$ K CGM is a complex ecosystem. It provides insights on the thermal and chemical history of the Milky Way CGM, and theories of galaxy evolution.

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arXiv2021

Super-virial temperature or Neon overabundance?: Suzaku observations of the Milky Way circumgalactic Medium

We analyzed Suzaku and Chandra observations of the soft diffuse X-ray background toward four sightlines with the goal of characterizing the X-ray emission from the Milky Way circumgalactic medium (CGM). We identified two thermal components of the CGM, one at a uniform temperature of $\rm kT = 0.176\pm0.008 ~keV$ and the other at temperatures ranging between $\rm kT = 0.65-0.90~ keV$. The uniform lower temperature component is consistent with the Galaxy's virial temperature ($ \sim10^{6}~ K$). The temperatures of the hotter components are similar to that recently discovered ($\rm \sim 10^{7}~ K$; Das et al.) in the sightline to blazar 1ES1553+113, passing close to the Fermi bubble. Alternatively, the spectra can be described by just one lower-temperature component with super-solar Neon abundance, once again similar to that found in the 1ES1553+113 sightline. The additional hot component or the overabundance of Ne is required at a significance of $>4σ$, but we cannot distinguish between the two possibilities. These results show that the super-virial temperature gas or an enhanced Ne abundance in the warm-hot gas in the CGM is widespread, and these are not necessarily related to the Fermi bubble.

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arXiv2020

Empirical estimates of the Galactic halo contribution to the dispersion measures of extragalactic fast radio bursts using X-ray absorption

We provide an empirical list of the Galactic dispersion measure ($DM_{Gal}$) contribution to the extragalactic fast radio bursts along 72 sightlines. It is independent of any model of the Galaxy, i.e., we do not assume the density of the disk or the halo, spatial extent of the halo, baryonic mass content, or any such external constraints to measure $DM_{Gal}$. We use 21-cm, UV, EUV and X-ray data to account for different phases, and find that $DM_{Gal}$ is dominated by the hot phase probed by X-ray absorption. We improve upon the measurements of N(\oviin) and f$_{OVII}$ compared to previous studies, thus providing a better estimate of the hot phase contribution. The median $DM_{Gal}$=64$^{+20}_{-23}$ cm$^{-3}$ pc, with a 68\% (90\%) confidence interval of 33--172 (23--660) cm$^{-3}$ pc. The $DM_{Gal}$ does not appear to follow any trend with the galactic longitude or latitude, and there is a large scatter around the values predicted by simple disk+spherical halo models. Our measurements provide more complete and accurate estimates of $DM_{Gal}$ independent from the previous studies. We provide a table and a code to retrieve $DM_{Gal}$ for any FRB localized in the sky.

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arXiv2020

Probing the Warm-Hot Circumgalactic Medium with broad OVI and X-rays

Most of the baryonic mass in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of a spiral galaxy is believed to be warm-hot, with temperature around $10^6$K. The narrow OVI absorption lines probe a somewhat cooler component at $\log \rm T(K)= 5.5$, but broad OVI absorbers have the potential to probe the hotter CGM. Here we present 376 ks Chandra LETG observations of a carefully selected galaxy in which the presence of broad OVI together with the non-detection of Lya was indicative of warm-hot gas. The strongest line expected to be present at $\approx 10^6$K is OVII $λ21.602$. There is a hint of an absorption line at the redshifted wavelength, but the line is not detected with better than $2σ$ significance. A physical model, taking into account strengths of several other lines, provides better constraints. Our best-fit absorber model has $\log \rm T(K) =6.3\pm 0.2$ and $\log \rm N_{H} (cm^{-2})=20.7^{+0.3}_{-0.5}$. These parameters are consistent with the warm-hot plasma model based on UV observations; other OVI models of cooler gas phases are ruled out at better than $99$% confidence. Thus we have suggestive, but not conclusive evidence for the broad OVI absorber probing the warm-hot gas from the shallow observations of this pilot program. About 800ks of XMM-Newton observations will detect the expected absorption lines of OVII and OVIII unequivocally. Future missions like XRISM, Arcus and Athena will revolutionize the CGM science.

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arXiv2020

Multiple temperature components of the hot circumgalactic medium of the Milky Way

We present a deep XMM-Newton observation of the Galactic halo emission in the direction of the blazar 1ES 1553+113. In order to extract the Galactic halo component from the diffuse soft X-ray emission spectrum, accurately modeling the foreground components is crucial. Here we present complex modeling of the foregrounds with unprecedented details. A careful analysis of the spectrum yields two temperature components of the halo gas (T$^{em}_1$= 10$^{6.25-6.42}$K, T$^{em}_2$= 10$^{6.68-6.92}$K). We find that these temperatures obtained from the emission spectrum are not consistent with those from the absorption spectrum (T$^{ab}_1$= 10$^{6.07-6.13}$K, T$^{ab}_2$= 10$^{6.96-7.15}$K), unlike the previous studies that found only one temperature component of the Milky Way circumgalactic medium. This provides us with interesting insights into the nature of emitting and absorbing systems. We discuss several possibilities objectively, and conclude that most likely we are observing multiple (3 to 4) discrete temperatures between 10$^{5.5}$K and $\geqslant$10$^7$K in the Milky Way circumgalactic medium.

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arXiv2020

The warm-hot, extended, massive circumgalactic medium of NGC 3221: an XMM-Newton discovery

Using Suzaku data, we had found a $3.4σ$ evidence for the X-ray emitting warm-hot circumgalactic medium (CGM) in the L$^\star$ galaxy NGC 3221. Here we present XMM-Newton data and outline an efficient, rigorous and well-defined method to extract the faint CGM signal. We confirm the CGM detection at $4σ$ significance within 30-200 kpc of the galaxy. We claim with $99.62\%$ confidence that the CGM is extended beyond $150$ kpc. The average temperature of the CGM is 2.0$^{+0.2}_{-0.3} \times 10^6$ K, but it is not isothermal. We find suggestive evidence for a declining temperature gradient out to 125 kpc and for super-virial temperature within 100 kpc. While a super-virial temperature component has been detected in the Milky Way CGM, this is the first time a temperature gradient has been observed in the warm-hot CGM of any spiral galaxy. The emission measure profile is well-fit with either a $β-$ model or a constant density profile. Deeper data are required to constrain the temperature and density profiles. We also confirm the Suzaku result that the warm-hot CGM is one of the most massive baryon components of NGC 3221 and can account for the missing galactic baryons.

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arXiv2020

Detection of the diffuse HI emission in the Circumgalactic Medium of NGC 891 and NGC 4565

We present detections of 21-cm emission from neutral hydrogen (HI) in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of the local edge-on galaxies NGC 891 and NGC 4565 using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). With our 5$σ$ sensitivity of $8.2 \times 10^{16}$ cm$^{-2}$ calculated over a 20 km s$^{-1}$ channel, we achieve $>5σ$ detections out to $90-120$ kpc along the minor axes. The velocity width of the CGM emission is as large as that of the disk $\approx 500$ km s$^{-1}$, indicating the existence of a diffuse component permeating the halo. We compare our GBT measurements with interferometric data from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). The WSRT maps the HI emission from the disk at high S/N but has limited surface brightness sensitivity at the angular scales probed with the GBT. After convolving the WSRT data to the spatial resolution of the GBT (FWHM = 9.1$'$), we find that the emission detected by the WSRT accounts for $48^{+15}_{-25}$% ($58^{+4}_{-18}$%) of the total flux recovered by the GBT from the CGM of NGC 891(NGC 4565). The existence of significant GBT-only flux suggests the presence of a large amount of diffuse, low column density HI emission in the CGM. For reasonable assumptions, the extended diffuse HI could account for $5.2\pm0.9$% and $2.0\pm0.8$% of the total HI emission of NGC 891 and NGC 4565.

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arXiv2019

Discovery of a very hot phase of the Milky Way CGM with non-solar abundance ratios

We present the discovery of a very hot gas phase of the Milky Way circumgalactic medium (CGM) at T $\approx 10^7$ K, using deep XMM-Newton RGS observations of 1ES 1553+113. The hot gas, coexisting with a warm-hot phase at T $\approx 10^6$ K is $α-$enhanced, with [O/Fe] = 0.9$^{+0.7}_{-0.3}$, indicating core-collapse supernovae enrichment. Additionally we find [Ne/O] and [N/O] = $0.7^{+1.6}_{-0.2}$, such that N/Ne is consistent with solar. Along with the enrichment by AGB stars and core-collapse supernovae, this indicates that some oxygen has depleted onto dust and/or transited to cooler gas phase(s). These results may affect previous baryonic and metallic mass estimations of the warm-hot and hot CGM from the observations of oxygen emission and absorption. Our results provide insights on the heating, mixing and chemical enrichment of the Milky Way CGM, and provide inputs to theoretical models of galaxy evolution.

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arXiv2019

Evidence for massive warm-hot circumgalactic medium around NGC 3221

We report a 3.4$σ$ detection of the warm-hot, massive, extended circumgalactic medium (CGM) around an L$^\star$ star-forming spiral galaxy NGC 3221, using deep Suzaku observations. The temperature of the gas is $10^{6.1}$ K, comparable to that of the Milky Way CGM. The spatial extent of the gas is at least $150$ kpc. For a $β$-model of density profile with solar abundance, the central emission measure is EM = $3\pm 1 \times 10^{-5}$ cm$^{-6}$ kpc and the central electron density is $n_{eo} = 4\pm 1 \times10^{-4}$ cm$^{-3}$, with a slope of $β= 0.56$. We investigate a range of $β$ values, and find that the details of the density profile do not change our results significantly. The mass of the warm-hot gas, assuming a metallicity of $\frac{1}{3}$ Z$_\odot$ is $16 \pm 3 \times 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$, being the most massive baryon component of NGC 3221. The baryon fraction is $f_b$ = 0.120 $\pm$ 0.036 (statistical) $^{+0.104}_{-0.048}$ (systematic), consistent with the cosmological mean value, closing the baryon budget of this galaxy. We also investigated the missing metals problem in conjunction with the missing baryons problem and conclude that metals are likely to be preferentially expelled from the galaxy. Ours is the first detection of an extended warm-hot CGM around an external L$^\star$ star-forming spiral galaxy, where the CGM likely accounts for the missing galactic baryons.

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arXiv2017

Modelling type IIP/IIL supernovae interacting with recent episodic mass ejections from their presupernova stars with MESA & SNEC

We show how dense compact discrete shells of circumstellar gas immediately outside the red supergiants affect the optical light curves of type II-P/II-L SNe taking the example of SN 2013ej. The earlier efforts in the literature had used an artificial circumstellar medium (CSM) stitched to the surface of an evolved star which had not gone through a phase of late-stage heavy mass loss, which in essence, is the source of the CSM to begin with. In contrast we allow enhanced mass loss rate from the modeled star during the $^{16}$O and $^{28}$Si burning stages and construct the CSM from the resulting mass-loss history in a self-consistent way. Once such evolved pre-SN stars are exploded, we find that the models with early interaction between the shock and the dense CSM reproduce the light curves far better than those without that mass loss and hence having no dense, nearby CSM. The required explosion energy for the progenitors with a dense CSM is reduced by almost a factor of two compared to those without the CSM. Our model, with a more realistic CSM profile and presupernova and explosion parameters, fits observed data much better throughout the rise, plateau and radioactive tail phases compared to previous studies. This points to an intermediate class of supernovae between type II-P/II-L and type II-n SNe with the characteristics of simultaneous UV and optical peak, slow decline after peak and a longer plateau.

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arXiv2017

Evolution and Explosion of Massive Stars Leading to IIP-IIL SNe with MESA and SNEC

We show how the dense shells of circumstellar gas immediately outside the red supergiants (RSGs) can affect the early optical light curves of Type II-P SNe taking the example of SN 2013ej. The peak in V, R and I bands, decline rate after peak and plateau length are found to be strongly influenced by the dense CSM formed due to enhanced mass loss during the oxygen and silicon burning stage of the progenitor. We find that the required explosion energy for the progenitors with CSM is reduced by almost a factor of 2.

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