Discovery of 6.4 keV line and soft X-ray emissions from G323.7$-$1.0 with Suzaku

摘要

In this paper, the Suzaku X-ray data of the Galactic Supernova Remnant (SNR)candidate G323.7$-$1.0 are analyzed to search for X-ray emission.Spatially-extended enhancements in the 6.4 keV line and in soft X-rays arefound inside or on the radio shell. The soft X-ray enhancement would be thehottest part of the shell-like X-ray emission along the radio shell. The 6.4keV line enhancement is detected at a significance level of $4.1 \sigma$. Thelower limit of the equivalent width (EW) is 1.2 keV. The energy centroid of the6.4 keV line is $6.40 \pm 0.04$ keV, indicating that the iron is less ionizedthan the Ne-like state. If the 6.4 keV line originates from ionizingnon-equilibrium thermal plasma, presence of iron-rich ejecta in alow-ionization state is required, which is disfavored by the relatively old ageof the SNR. The 6.4 keV line enhancement would be due to K-shell ionization ofiron atoms in a dense interstellar medium by high-energy particles. Since thereis no irradiating X-ray source, the origin of the 6.4 keV line enhancement isnot likely the photoionization. The large EW can only be explained by K-shellionization due to cosmic-ray protons with an energy of $\sim 10$ MeV, whichmight be generated by the shock acceleration in G323.7$-$1.0.