XMM-Newton Observations of MBM 12: More Constraints on the Solar Wind Charge Exchange and Local Bubble Emissions

Dimitra Koutroumpa (1) , Randall K. Smith (2) , Richard J. Edgar (2) , Kip D. Kuntz (3) , Paul P. Plucinsky (2) , Steven L. Snowden (1)

1 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2 CfA - Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
3 JHU - Johns Hopkins University

We present the first analysis of an XMM-Newton observation of the nearby molecular cloud MBM 12. We find that in the direction of MBM 12 the total O VII (0.57 keV) triplet emission is 1.8+0.5 -0.6 photons cm-2 s-1 sr-1 (or line units, LU) while for the O VIII (0.65 keV) line emission we find a 3σ upper limit of <1 LU. We use a heliospheric model to calculate the O VII and O VIII emission generated by Solar Wind Charge-eXchange (SWCX) which we compare to the XMM-Newton observations. This comparison provides new constraints on the relative heliospheric and Local Bubble contributions to the local diffuse X-ray background. The heliospheric SWCX model predicts 0.82 LU for O VII, which accounts for ~46% ± 15% of the observed value, and 0.33 LU for the O VIII line emission consistent with the XMM-Newton observed value. We discuss our results in combination with previous observations of MBM 12 with Chandra and Suzaku.

Mots clés: ISM: bubbles; ISM: supernova remnants; Solar wind; Heliosphere; X-rays

Domaines: Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]; Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]

Dimitra Koutroumpa, Randall K. Smith, Richard J. Edgar, Kip D. Kuntz, Paul P. Plucinsky, et al.. XMM-Newton Observations of MBM 12: More Constraints on the Solar Wind Charge Exchange and Local Bubble Emissions. The Astrophysical Journal, 2011, 726 (2), pp.91. ⟨10.1088/0004-637X/726/2/91⟩. ⟨hal-00686614⟩