Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal

Volume number: 872

Issue number: 2

ISSN: 0004-637X

eISSN: 1538-4357

Open access status: Green

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab0177

Publisher: American Astronomical Society

Abstract: 
Motivated by possible atomic origins of the unidentified emission line detected at 3.55-3.57 keV in a stacked spectrum of galaxy clusters, an electron beam ion trap (EBIT) was used to investigate the resonant dielectronic recombination (DR) process in highly charged argon ions as a possible contributor to the emission feature. The He-like Ar DR-induced transition 1s(2)2l-1s2l3l' was suggested to produce a 3.62 keV photon near the unidentified line at 3.57 keV and was the starting point of our investigation. The collisional-radiative model NOMAD was used to create synthetic spectra for comparison with both our EBIT measurements and with spectra produced with the AtomDB database/Astrophysical Plasma Emission Code (APEC) used in the Bulbul et al. work. Excellent agreement was found between the NOMAD and EBIT spectra, providing a high level of confidence in the atomic data used. Comparison of the NOMAD and APEC spectra revealed a number of missing features in the AtomDB database near the unidentified line. At an electron temperature of T-e = 1.72 keV, the inclusion of the missing lines in AtomDB increases the total flux in the 3.5-3.66 keV energy band by a factor of 2. While important, this extra emission is not enough to explain the unidentified line found in the galaxy cluster spectra.

Harvard Citation style: Gall, A., Foster, A., Silwal, R., Dreiling, J., Borovik, L., Kilgore, E., et al. (2019) EBIT Observation of Ar Dielectronic Recombination Lines near the Unknown Faint X-Ray Feature Found in the Stacked Spectrum of Galaxy Clusters, The Astrophysical Journal, 872(2), Article 194. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab0177

APA Citation style: Gall, A., Foster, A., Silwal, R., Dreiling, J., Borovik, L., Kilgore, E., Ajello, M., Gillaspy, J., Ralchenko, Y., & Takacs, E. (2019). EBIT Observation of Ar Dielectronic Recombination Lines near the Unknown Faint X-Ray Feature Found in the Stacked Spectrum of Galaxy Clusters. The Astrophysical Journal. 872(2), Article 194. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab0177