English

Mapping plasma properties of Cassiopeia A with XRISM/Resolve: a Bayesian analysis via UltraSPEX

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2026-02-09 v1

Abstract

Mapping the physical conditions of the shocked plasma of young supernova remnants (SNR) is crucial for understanding their explosion mechanisms, ejecta structure, and large-scale asymmetries. Using >350>350 ks of XRISM/Resolve high spectral resolution observations of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), the youngest known Galactic core-collapse SNR, we present the first microcalorimeter-based plasma parameter maps of any SNR. We tessellate Cas A into 1×11'\times1' regions and fit the broadband spectra as thermal emission from two pure-metal ejecta components -- corresponding to intermediate-mass elements (IMEs) and iron-group elements (IGEs) -- plus nonthermal synchrotron radiation. For robust inference, we introduce UltraSPEX, a Bayesian framework that couples the SPEX plasma code with the UltraNest nested-sampling algorithm, yielding full posterior distributions and exploration of parameter degeneracies. Key findings include enhanced Ar/Si and Ca/Si abundance ratios near the base of the Si-rich jets, and a high Ni/Fe mass ratio (0.08±0.0150.08\pm0.015) in the base of NE jet. IGEs ejecta exhibit systematically higher Doppler velocities and broadenings than IMEs ejecta in most regions, with maximum differences of 800\sim800 km/s and 1200\sim1200 km/s, respectively; Ca shows distinct (faster) kinematics from other IMEs in several SE regions. The ionization timescale and electron temperature show a robust anti-correlation, particularly for IGEs. This relation and measured parameter values could be explained by semi-analytical models with significant ejecta clumping (overdensities of 10\sim10 for IGEs and up to 100\sim100 for IMEs) and reduced historical reverse-shock velocities. Nonthermal emission accounts for a substantial fraction, with at least 47% of the 4--6 keV continuum and dominates in the western regions, where the spectrum hardens.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.06952,
  title  = {Mapping plasma properties of Cassiopeia A with XRISM/Resolve: a Bayesian analysis via UltraSPEX},
  author = {Manan Agarwal and Jacco Vink and Liyi Gu and Paul P. Plucinsky and Aya Bamba and Toshiki Sato and Daniele Rogantini and Yuken Ohshiro},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.06952},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Submitted version (33 pages, 21 figures). Accepted for publication in ApJ