format: text

text:
# Intermediate mass strangelets are positively charged

## Abstract

For a limited range of parameters, stable strange quark matter may be negatively charged in bulk due to one gluon exchange interactions. However, the reduction in strange quark occupation in the surface layer, which is responsible for surface tension, more than compensates this for intermediate mass strangelets, which therefore always have positive quark charge (e.g. for baryon number between $`10^2`$ and $`10^{18}`$ assuming $`\alpha _S=0.9`$). While details are sensitive to the choice of renormalization, the general conclusion is not. This rules out a scenario where negatively charged strangelets produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion colliders might grow indefinitely with potentially disastrous consequences.

There has recently been some concern about the possibility that a negatively charged strangelet formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions might grow by absorbing nuclei to, in principle, swallow the Earth. Two investigations have described a number of reasons, theoretical as well as experimental, why such a scenario is exceedingly unlikely.

Many unlikely coincidences are required for a dangerous situation to develop. Positively charged quark matter repels ordinary nuclei, so at the very least, the small strangelets (baryon number $`A4\times 10^2`$, where $`4\times 10^2`$ is the total number of nucleons involved in a collision of two gold or lead nuclei) hypothetically formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions must have negative quark charge. And for growth to proceed, not only must the ultimate state of stable bulk strange quark matter be negatively charged, but so must the path of intermediate mass strangelets all the way from low $`A`$ to $`A\mathrm{}`$.

The present study demonstrates, that even in the unlikely case where bulk strange quark matter is both stable and has negative quark charge, and where a long-lived, negatively charged strangelet is formed in a collision, such a strangelet cannot grow significantly by absorbing nuclei. The reason is, that the quark charge of intermediate mass strangelets near the lowest energy state is always positive regardless of the bulk charge. Thus the potentially dangerous strangelet growth path is blocked by Coulomb repulsion.

Following the original suggestions of Bodmer and Witten, Farhi and Jaffe  presented a detailed study of strange quark matter properties in bulk, as well as finite size strangelets. Concerning the issue of the electric charge of bulk strange matter they showed, that the quark charge of stable strange matter is always positive for small strong interaction constant, $`\alpha _S`$ . This is easy to understand physically, because of the fortuitous cancellation of charge for a gas with equal numbers of up, down and strange quarks. For finite strange quark mass and up and down quark masses close to zero, the number of $`s`$-quarks will be reduced, and the net quark charge be positive, even though the actual numbers are small, with a typical charge-to-baryon number ratio of $`10^3`$$`10^7`$. One gluon exchange interactions are repulsive for massless up and down quarks, but attractive for massive, nonrelativistic quarks. Thus, for sufficiently high $`\alpha _S`$ Farhi and Jaffe showed, that there is a part of parameter space where this effect increases the abundance of $`s`$-quarks enough to give the system a total negative quark charge. Farhi and Jaffe noted, that details were quite sensitive to the choice of renormalization point, and speculated that it might not be stable with respect to including higher orders in $`\alpha _S`$. But negative quark charge for bulk strange quark matter seems a valid albeit unlikely possibility.

The energy and quark content of finite size lumps of strange quark matter (sometimes called strangelets, at least in the low-$`A`$ regime) is modified relative to that of bulk strange quark matter. These finite size effects (surface tension and curvature energy) generally destabilize strangelets , but they also change the overall charge of the system, and as shown below they always lead to a wide range of intermediate mass strangelets with positive rather than negative charge. Physically the main effect of the finite size is a depletion of $`s`$-quarks in the surface layer, which removes negative charge from the system relative to the bulk solution. The underlying mechanism is a simple consequence of quantum mechanics. Whereas a relativistic, low-mass quark may have nonzero density at the system boundary, the wave function (and therefore the density) must be zero in the nonrelativistic limit of a very massive quark. The massive $`s`$-quarks are therefore suppressed more than $`u`$ and $`d`$ near the surface.

It will be shown below, that finite size effects increase the total charge per baryon by an amount $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z/A0.3A^{1/3}`$. This number is to be compared with a negative charge per baryon (numerically) less than $`10^6`$ for stable bulk quark matter with $`\alpha _S=0.9`$, and $`10^3`$ for $`\alpha _S=1.2`$. Thus the total charge of strangelets becomes positive for $`A<10^{18}`$ and $`A<10^7`$ respectively.

In the ideal Fermi-gas approximation the energy of a system composed of quark flavors $`i`$ is given by

$$E=\underset{i}{}(\mathrm{\Omega }_i+N_i\mu _i)+BV.$$
(1)
Here $`\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$, $`N_i`$ and $`\mu _i`$ denote thermodynamic potentials, total number of quarks, and chemical potentials, respectively. $`B`$ is the bag constant, $`V`$ is the bag volume. (For simplicity, all thermodynamical equations are written without explicit electron/positron terms. Such terms were included in the numerical calculations).

In the multiple reflection expansion framework of Balian and Bloch , the thermodynamical quantities can be derived from a density of states of the form $`\frac{dN_i}{dk}=6\{\frac{k^2V}{2\pi ^2}+f_S\left(\frac{m_i}{k}\right)kS+f_C\left(\frac{m_i}{k}\right)C+\mathrm{}.\},`$ where area $`S=4\pi R^2`$ and curvature $`C=8\pi R`$ for a sphere. The volume term is universal, whereas the functions $`f_S`$ and $`f_C`$ depend on the boundary conditions. The number of quarks of flavor $`i`$ is $`N_i=_0^{k_{Fi}}(dN_i/dk)𝑑k=n_{i,V}V+n_{i,S}S+n_{i,C}C,`$ with Fermi momentum $`k_{Fi}=\mu _i(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}`$; $`\lambda _im_i/\mu _i`$. The corresponding thermodynamical potentials are $`\mathrm{\Omega }_i=\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,V}V+\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,S}S+\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,C}C`$ , where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_i/\mu _i=N_i`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,j}/\mu _i=n_{i,j}`$. Minimizing the total energy at fixed $`N_i`$ gives the energy for a spherical quark lump as $`E=_iN_i\mu _i+(1/3)\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,S}S+(2/3)\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,C}C.`$

In the following I will assume MIT bag model boundary conditions , but the main conclusion depends only on the fact that $`f_S`$ is negative.

The volume terms including first order $`\alpha _S`$ corrections are given by

$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ $`{}_{i,V}{}^{}={\displaystyle \frac{\mu _i^4}{4\pi ^2}}((1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}(1{\displaystyle \frac{5}{2}}\lambda _i^2)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\lambda _i^4\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1+(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}}{\lambda _i}}`$ (5)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha _S}{\pi }}[3[(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}\lambda _i^2\mathrm{ln}(1+(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2})]^2`$
$`2(1\lambda _i^2)^23\lambda _i^4\mathrm{ln}^2\lambda _i`$
$`+6\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma }{\mu _i}}\right)(\lambda _i^2(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}\lambda _i^4\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1+(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}}{\lambda _i}}\right))]),`$
and $`n_{i,V}=\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,V}/\mu _i`$. The expression for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,V}`$ is taken from  apart from correction of a sign misprint. Farhi and Jaffe discuss at length the choice of renormalization scale, $`\sigma `$. In accordance with their work I have picked a value of $`\sigma =313`$MeV in the following. Details of the numerical results are sensitive to this choice, especially at high $`\alpha _S`$, but calculations for other choices of $`\sigma `$ assure that the conclusions are invariant.

The surface contribution follows from $`f_S(m/k)=\left[1(2/\pi )\mathrm{tan}^1(k/m)\right]/8\pi `$

$`\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,S}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{3}{4\pi }}\mu _i^3[{\displaystyle \frac{(1\lambda _i^2)}{6}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _i^2(1\lambda _i)}{3}}`$ (8)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3\pi }}(\mathrm{tan}^1\left[{\displaystyle \frac{(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}}{\lambda _i}}\right]2\lambda _i(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}`$
$`+\lambda _i^3\mathrm{ln}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1+(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}}{\lambda _i}}\right])];`$
$`n_{i,S}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{3}{4\pi }}\mu _i^2[{\displaystyle \frac{(1\lambda _i^2)}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}(\mathrm{tan}^1\left[{\displaystyle \frac{(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2}}{\lambda _i}}\right]`$ (10)
$`\lambda _i(1\lambda _i^2)^{1/2})].`$
For massless quarks $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,S}=n_{i,S}=0`$. For massive quarks $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,S}`$ (which is always positive, except for $`\lambda _i=0`$ or 1) has the properties of a surface tension. The corresponding change in quark number per unit area, $`n_{i,S}`$, is always negative, approaching 0 for $`\lambda _i0`$ (massless quarks) or 1 (infinitely massive quarks, i.e. no $`i`$-quarks present).

Curvature terms ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{i,C}`$ and $`n_{i,C}`$) are decisive for understanding the average physical properties of small $`A<100`$ strangelets, but are not very important for the results at higher $`A`$. They were selfconsistently included in the numerical calculations, using the expressions from . Coulomb energies are negligible because of the low charge-to-mass ratio.

Figures 1–4 show results of applying the above equations to strange quark matter at $`\alpha _S=0.9`$, varying $`B`$ and $`m_s`$, and assuming massless $`u`$\- and $`d`$-quarks. Figure 1 shows contour curves for equal energy per baryon of bulk strange quark matter in chemical equilibrium, i.e. with $`\mu _d=\mu _s`$ maintained mainly by $`u+ds+u`$, and $`\mu _d=\mu _u+\mu _e`$, normally maintained by reactions like $`du+e^{}+\overline{\nu }_e`$. Typical quark chemical potentials are 300 MeV, whereas $`\mu _e`$ is a few MeV. A special situation occurs when $`m_e<\mu _e<m_e`$, since here the weak reactions involving electrons or positrons are blocked, and the total quark charge of the system is zero with neither electrons nor positrons present. For $`\mu _e>m_e`$ local charge neutrality is maintained by a small fraction of electrons, whereas positrons take over for $`\mu _e<m_e`$. Dotted curves in Fig. 1 are contours for fixed number of electrons per baryon (positrons counted as negative number of electrons), which equals the net quark charge per baryon, $`Z/A`$. A characteristic property of strange quark matter is a very low $`Z/A`$, except for very high $`m_s`$, where $`s`$-quarks are energetically unfavorable. For $`m_e<\mu _e<m_e`$, $`Z/A`$ becomes 0, but for low $`\alpha _S`$ this happens only for unrealistically low $`m_s`$, and negative bulk charge does not occur at all. For high $`\alpha _S`$, the regime of zero charge propagates to intermediate $`m_s`$ values, and a region of negative bulk $`Z/A`$ shows up. For $`\alpha _S=0.9`$ the bulk $`Z/A`$ is still numerically very small, reaching only values of $`10^6`$, whereas $`Z/A10^3`$ may be reached for a high $`\alpha _S=1.2`$. It is these regimes of negative (or to a lesser extent zero) charge which could in principle lead to disastrous consequences if a negative strangelet were formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions and began to grow.

However, the inclusion of finite size effects rules out such a disaster scenario, because they reduce the number of negatively charged $`s`$-quarks in the surface layer sufficiently to render the total $`Z/A`$ positive, as illustrated in Figures 2–4.

Quantitatively, stable strangelets are electrically positive for radii from a few fm up to $`10^6`$ fm ($`10^2<A<10^{18}`$) for $`\alpha _S=0.9`$, and for $`10^2<A<10^7`$ for $`\alpha _S=1.2`$. This is seen from the detailed numerical calculations, but can be understood qualitatively from the expression for $`n_{s,S}`$, which is the main contributor to the change in charge for $`A>10^2`$. Thus $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z(1/3)n_{s,S}S0.18(\mu _sR)^2`$ (the number assuming maximum depletion of $`s`$-quarks, but the actual depletion is close to this for a wide range of $`\lambda _s`$). With $`AV\mu _d^3/\pi ^2`$ and inserting typical numbers for chemical potentials, this leads to

$$\mathrm{\Delta }Z/A0.3A^{1/3}0.3R_{\mathrm{fm}}^1,$$
(11)
in close agreement with the results of the full numerical calculations.

The numerical results depend on the choice of renormalization, but qualitatively similar results are found for other choices of $`\sigma `$, including the original (but physically questionable) choice of $`\sigma =m_s`$. A perturbative expansion to first order in $`\alpha _S`$ is unreliable at high $`\alpha _S`$. In particular, the scheme used here breaks down at $`\alpha _S=\pi /2`$, where light quark pressures become negative, but in practice results for even somewhat lower $`\alpha _S`$ should be treated with caution. One might also worry that the finite size terms being known only to zeroth order could be inconsistent, but since these terms are perturbations on the bulk solution itself, this omission should matter only at order $`\alpha _S^2`$.

But in spite of these reservations, the general qualitative result demonstrated here in quantitative detail to first order in $`\alpha _S`$ within the MIT bag model, namely that surface depletion of $`s`$-quarks removes sufficient negative charge to make strangelets positive below some high $`A`$-value, seems quite robust. It depends only on the fact that $`f_s`$ is negative, which leads to a negative $`n_{s,S}`$, and a positive surface tension. This would seem a natural condition in any model for stable strangelets.

Thus the conclusion is that even within the limited range of parameters where bulk strange quark matter is stable and negatively charged, intermediate mass strangelets have positive quark charge because of surface depletion of $`s`$-quarks. Even if very small strangelets might still be created with negative charge in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions due perhaps to stabilizing shell effects  (such effects would play no practical role at high $`A`$), they would not be able to bridge the positively charged regime of intermediate $`A`$ on their way to the putative state of bulk, negatively charged strange quark matter. This rules out the disaster scenarios discussed recently.

I thank Bob Jaffe and Jack Sandweiss for comments. This work was supported in part by the Theoretical Astrophysics Center under the Danish National Research Foundation.


text:
# The Supergiant Shell LMC 2: II. Physical Properties of the 106 K Gas

## 1 Introduction

Supergiant shells with sizes approaching 1000 pc form the largest structures seen in the interstellar medium (ISM). Such shells have been detected in the H i 21-cm and H$`\alpha `$ lines in our Galaxy, Local Group galaxies, and more distant galaxies (Tenorio-Tagle & Bodenheimer 1988). These supergiant shells contain 1051–1054 ergs of kinetic energy, which is most likely contributed by multiple supernovae and energetic stellar winds over several dozen Myr. The size of a supergiant shell often exceeds the scale height of the gaseous disk of its host galaxy, thus forming a “chimney” through which energy and mass flow into the galactic halo. Therefore, supergiant shells play important roles in the global evolution of the ISM in a galaxy.

It is difficult to study supergiant shells in detail. Their distances, and so their sizes and energies, remain uncertain in our Galaxy; furthermore, interstellar obscuration often prevents observations at optical, UV and X-ray wavelengths. For distant galaxies, angular resolution becomes a severe limiting factor. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) offers a happy compromise, as it is close (50 kpc; Feast 1999) and has little obscuration (A$`{}_{V}{}^{}<0.3`$ mag; Bessell 1991)

Nine supergiant shells with sizes ranging from 600 to 1400 pc have been reported in the LMC, LMC 1–9 (Goudis & Meaburn 1978; Meaburn 1980). Only two of these shells have been studied in detail – LMC 2 and LMC 4 – because LMC 2 is the most spectacular and LMC 4 is the largest. Both supergiant shells are filled with hot plasma: diffuse X-ray emission has been detected in LMC 2 by Wang & Helfand (1991) using Einstein Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) data, and in LMC 4 by Bomans, Dennerl, & Kürster (1994) with a 46 ksec ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) observation. LMC 2 is substantially brighter in X-rays than LMC 4 and all other supergiant shells in the LMC.

The physical and kinematic structure of LMC 2 has been reported by Points et al. (1999; hereafter Paper I). It is found that two different mechanisms are responsible for generating the X-ray-emitting plasma: (1) local heating by supernova remnants (SNRs), e.g., the emission region enclosed by the northeast rim; and (2) outflows from active star formation regions, e.g., the bright X-ray arc extending from N 158 (notation from Henize 1956) to N 159 (or SNR 0540-693 to LMC X-1; see Figure 1 b). The south end of LMC 2 is confusing. Diffuse X-ray emission, while peaking within the shell, extends beyond the southern border of LMC 2. It has been speculated that this X-ray spur represents a blowout of LMC 2, but no optical or radio supporting evidence has been found.

LMC 2 clearly demonstrates the existence of hot gas interior to a supergiant shell, and illustrates different mechanisms of generating the hot gas. Spatially resolved spectral analysis of the X-ray emission within LMC 2 and neighboring regions is the most effective way to determine the physical conditions of the hot plasma and establish its role in the multi-phase interstellar medium.

The X-ray emission from the interior of LMC 2 has not been studied since its initial detection with the Einstein IPC. Those IPC data were not used to make a detailed spectral analysis, however, because they had low spectral resolution and were contaminated by hard X-rays scattered from LMC X-1 to large off-axis angles (Wang & Helfand 1991). To study the distribution of X-ray emission toward LMC 2, we have obtained ROSAT PSPC and High Resolution Imager (HRI) observations of LMC 2. Furthermore, to determine the physical conditions of the X-ray emitting plasma interior to LMC 2, we have also obtained ASCA Solid-State Imaging Spectrograph (SIS) observations.

This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the observations used in this study and their reduction. The distribution of the hot ($`10^6`$ K) plasma and its relationship to the warm ($`10^4`$ K) and cold ($`10^2`$ K) interstellar component of LMC 2 is discussed in §3. In §4 we describe the physical condition of the hot gas. In §5 we compare the physical properties of LMC 2 with other objects that exhibit diffuse X-ray emission. We summarize our results in §6.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

The X-ray data reported in this paper were obtained using the ROSAT PSPC and HRI and the ASCA SIS.

### 2.1 X-ray Images

The X-ray images of LMC 2 were obtained with the ROSAT X-ray telescope, using both the PSPC and the HRI. As discussed in Paper I, we have mosaicked a large number of independent PSPC and HRI observations to provide extensive angular coverage, and considerably deeper exposure than provided by the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS). The data were retrieved through the ROSAT public archive at the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The region surrounding LMC 2 has been extensively covered by PSPC observations of the many sources in the vicinity (e.g., SNRs & X-ray binaries) and by the HRI survey program of Chu & Snowden (1998) which was designed to cover the 30 Doradus and bar regions of the LMC with deep and uniform coverage. Tables A1 and A2 list the observation sequences that were used for the mosaics of the PSPC and HRI, respectively. These tables include the number of data sets for each sequence (individual observations were occasionally processed in sections), pointing direction, exposure time, and target name. The data reduction was accomplished using the Extended Source Analysis Software (ESAS) package (Snowden & Kuntz 1998; Kuntz & Snowden 1998), which is also available through the HEASARC. The final PSPC and HRI mosaics are cast in the same projection with the field center at $`(\alpha ,\delta )_{2000}=`$ (5h42m,$`69\mathrm{°}30^{}`$) and pixel size of 30′′ and 20′′, respectively. The projection is the zenith equal-area azimuthal (ZEA; Greisen & Calabretta (1996)), which is similar over this solid angle to the more common tangential projection.

#### 2.1.1 PSPC Mosaic

Reduction of the PSPC data followed the procedures outlined by Snowden et al. (1994) and demonstrated by Snowden & Petre (1994), and in fact included a reprocessing of data in the latter paper. Individual observations were screened for anomalous background conditions, had their residual non-cosmic background components modeled and subtracted, and had their vignetted and deadtime-corrected exposures calculated. Only after all of the individual observations were reduced in six statistically-independent energy bands (see Table 1) were they cast into the mosaics. Because the analysis software can not correct for zero-level offsets (a constant component of the long-term enhancement non-cosmic background, see Snowden et al. (1994)), the mosaicking process must correct for the relative offsets between overlapping fields. A single-value deconvolution algorithm was applied to a system of equations comprising all overlaps between separate observations to determine a best fit for all offsets simultaneously. A final constraint was added so that the sum of the offsets were equal to zero. Individual observations were then adjusted by multiplying the fitted offset by the exposure map to produce an offset count image, which was then subtracted from the count image. This procedure was run separately on each energy band. Table 2 lists some values of interest for the reduction. The true source counts can be seen to completely dominate the non-cosmic background and the average exposures are larger by more than an order of magnitude than that of the RASS coverage. Although these source counts include emission from 30 Doradus, LMC X-1, and various SNRs, LMC 2 is well above non-cosmic background. The total coverage of the field is $`18.2`$ deg2. We have extracted a $`4.5`$ deg2 sub-image of the LMC 2 region from the larger mosaic and present it in Figure 1 a.

#### 2.1.2 HRI Mosaic

The reduction of HRI data is simplified from that of PSPC data. There is only the total energy band, and only the particle background is modeled and removed. The particle background of the HRI completely dominates an HRI observation with an average count rate $`510`$ times greater than the cosmic background. It must be removed as the distribution of the particle background is flat across the field while cosmic counts are vignetted. Unfortunately, the particle background is also only calibrated to $`10`$% or so, but this is sufficient for the purposes of this paper. The contributions from other non-cosmic background components are ignored as they are “in the noise.” Because these components are for the most part distributed as a vignetted flat field, they contribute a zero-level offset which is corrected in the mosaicking, which is done in the same manner as for the PSPC. The total coverage of the field is $`8.1`$ deg2. In Figure 1 b we present a sub-image from this mosaic that has the same field-of-view as Figure 1 a.

### 2.2 X-ray Spectra

The X-ray spectra in this paper were obtained with the ROSAT PSPC and the ASCA SIS. Here we discuss the reduction of the X-ray spectral data. We discuss their analysis in §4.

#### 2.2.1 ROSAT PSPC Spectra

We extract X-ray spectra of LMC 2 from a ROSAT PSPC observation of the SNR DEM L 316 (ROSAT Sequence No. RP500259N00). The PSPC is sensitive in the energy range of 0.1 – 2.4 keV, and has an energy resolution of $`43`$% at 1 keV. This observation has been discussed in some detail in Williams et al. (1997). Therefore, we only present a brief summary here. The observation was made within the time interval from 1993 January 10 to 1993 February 10. For this observation, the SNR DEM L 316 ($`\alpha _{2000}=`$ 5h47m9$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$5; $`\delta _{2000}=69\mathrm{°}42\mathrm{}14\mathrm{}`$) was centered in the PSPC. The total exposure time for the observation was 4.0 ksec.

We processed these data using Xselect and FTOOLS111These data were also reduced using the IRAF/PROS packages. No apparent differences exist between the resulting spectra., which are available through the HEASARC. The data were spatially binned to produce 7$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 $`\times `$ 7$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 pixels. Using the binned PSPC image, we defined three regions of interest: a bright region in the northern part of LMC 2 (PSPC-North), a bright X-ray arc in the west (PSPC-Arc), and a region in the X-ray spur to the south of LMC 2 (PSPC-Spur). These regions are shown in Figure 1 a. Because LMC 2 is an extended source and all the regions are located outside the central PSPC “ring” (radius 20), we selected background regions of the same size and off-axis angle to correct for the charged particle background. During the reduction process we also performed vignetting corrections. We present the regions’ coordinates, angular sizes, net counts, and effective exposure times in Table 3.

#### 2.2.2 ASCA SIS Spectra

Our ASCA observation is of a bright X-ray region in the northern section of LMC 2 (see Figure 1 a). This observation was performed on 1995 August 25 – 26 (ASCA Sequence No. 53039000).

The ASCA satellite consists of two instruments that observe simultaneously – a pair of SIS and a pair of Gas Imaging Spectrographs (GIS). The SIS has an energy coverage approximately in the 0.5 – 8 keV range and the GIS in the 0.8 – 10 keV range (Tanaka, Inoue, & Holt 1994). In this paper, we have only used the SIS data because of the low sensitivity of the GIS for energies below $`1.0`$ keV, where diffuse thermal plasma emission is brightest. The SIS detectors have good spectral resolution $`[\delta E/E0.02(5.9\mathrm{keV}/E)^{0.5}]`$. The angular resolution of the SIS data is poor compared to the ROSAT PSPC, with a narrow core of $`1^{}`$ diameter and a half-power radius of 3. Both of the SIS detectors (SIS 0 and SIS 1) are composed of four separate CCDs. Not all of the CCDs can be on for a given observation as the presence of “hot” and “flickering” pixels can fill the telemetry with false signals.

Because of telemetry limitations, our observations were performed in the 2-CCD mode, with part of the bright northern region of LMC 2 in the SIS 0 (Chips 0 & 1) and SIS 1 (Chips 0 & 3). We have extracted spectra from SIS 0 Chip 1 and SIS 1 Chip 3, because they image the same area on the sky and lie in a region of bright emission. We reduced and processed the data with ASCASCREEN and FTOOLS. Because LMC 2 is more extended than the SIS field-of-view no region from any of our ASCA observations were suitable to perform a background subtraction. Therefore, we used the ASCA Deep Field pointings, screened in a manner identical to the LMC 2 data, to obtain regions for background subtraction. In Table 3, we also present relevant information on the two ASCA SIS Chips that were used in this paper. We have also extracted spectra in the regions covered by SIS 0 Chip 0 and SIS 1 Chip 0; however, these data were not analyzed because the count rates were low and these spectra cannot be fitted by models with reasonable certainty.

## 3 Spatial Distribution of the ISM toward LMC 2

LMC 2 consists of interstellar gas in several phases. As reported in Paper I, we have obtained (1) ROSAT PSPC and HRI mosaics to investigate the spatial distribution of the hot ionized gas interior to LMC 2, (2) CCD images of LMC 2 in optical emission lines to examine the shell of warm ionized gas, and (3) 21-cm H i data to study the structure of the cold, neutral gas. Below we describe the distribution of the X-ray emitting plasma and its relation to the other gaseous components.

### 3.1 Morphology of the Hot Ionized Medium of LMC 2

The existence of hot ($`10^6`$ K) gas interior to LMC 2 was first detected using the Einstein IPC (Wang & Helfand 1991). As seen in our ROSAT PSPC and HRI mosaics (Figures 1 a & 1 b, respectively), LMC 2 lies toward the brightest and most complex region of diffuse X-ray emission in the LMC. This region includes 30 Doradus, LMC 2, the supergiant shell LMC 3, and a bright X-ray spur to the south of LMC 2, as well as SNRs (e.g., DEM L 299, DEM L 316, and SNR 0540$``$69.3) and an X-ray binary (LMC X-1). These features are labeled on our HRI mosaic in Figure 1 b.

A cursory inspection of our PSPC and HRI mosaics reveals that the X-ray surface brightness of LMC 2 is not uniform. The brightest region of diffuse X-ray emission associated with LMC 2 is an arc in the southwestern quadrant that appears to extend from SNR 0540$``$693 to LMC X-1. A region of low X-ray surface brightness ($`\alpha _{2000}=5^\mathrm{h}45^\mathrm{m}`$, $`\delta _{2000}=69^{}25^{}`$) lies between this bright X-ray arc and a region of bright X-ray emission in the northeast. The observed variation in X-ray surface brightness can be attributed to non-uniform emission from LMC 2 and/or to non-uniform absorption of X-rays by intervening interstellar gas. As discussed below, we find that both of these explanations must be taken into account for the observed X-ray surface brightness toward LMC 2.

### 3.2 Comparison of X-ray Images with Optical/Radio Observations

It is of considerable importance in our study of the physical conditions interior of LMC 2 to determine whether the variation in X-ray surface brightness is the result of non-uniform absorption or emission. To investigate this matter we first compare the X-ray mosaics with H$`\alpha `$ emission line images that trace regions of current massive star formation. As the hot gas toward LMC 2 is most likely shock-heated by the stellar winds and supernova explosions of massive stars, we expect to see correspondence between X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ features. We present an H$`\alpha `$ image of LMC 2 overlaid with X-ray contours in Figure 2.

We find three results of note in this comparison: (1) the X-ray emission from LMC 2 is confined by the optical filaments; (2) the bright X-ray arc is centered on the H ii region N 160. Based on the optical and X-ray morphology and high resolution echelle spectra of the H$`\alpha `$ line, we suggest that the arc is formed by an outflow of hot gas from N 160 into LMC 2 (Paper I). (3) The H ii region N 163 ($`\alpha _{2000}=5^\mathrm{h}43^\mathrm{m}09^\mathrm{s},\delta _{2000}=69\mathrm{°}45\mathrm{}54\mathrm{}`$) is coincident with a small region of low X-ray surface brightness. Comparison of the PSPC mosaics (Snowden & Petre 1994) shows that this depression in X-ray surface brightness is more pronounced in the soft X-ray band (R4) than in the hard X-ray band (R7). Therefore, we conclude that N 163 lies in front of the X-ray emitting gas and absorbs the soft X-rays from LMC 2.

We further compare the X-ray mosaic with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) aperture synthesis maps of the 21-cm H i emission line toward LMC 2 that reveals the presence of neutral atomic gas (Figure 3). We know that H i exists in front and in back of LMC 2. Thus, we cannot simply expect variations in the H i column density to anti-correlate with the diffuse X-ray emission. Instead we use the shadowing effect to look for correlations between features in the H i channel maps with X-ray surface brightness. As reported in Paper I, a region of low X-ray surface brightness ($`\alpha _{2000}=5^\mathrm{h}45^\mathrm{m},\delta _{2000}=69\mathrm{°}25\mathrm{}`$) is coincident with an H i cloud detected in the H i channel maps. As in the case of the region with low X-ray surface brightness seen toward N 163, this depression is more apparent in the R4 band mosaic than the R7 band mosaic. Therefore, this H i gas component most likely lies on the front side of LMC 2 and absorbs the X-rays emitted from within LMC 2 (Paper I).

## 4 Physical Conditions of the Hot Gas

The ROSAT PSPC and ASCA SIS data provide X-ray spectra of LMC 2 that can be used to derive the physical conditions of the hot gas. We will first describe the procedures used to perform the X-ray spectral fitting and the uncertainties involved. Then we will use the plasma temperature, foreground absorption column density, and X-ray emissivity obtained from the spectral fits to estimate the electron density, surface mass density, and surface thermal energy density of the hot gas.

### 4.1 X-ray Spectral Fits

The observed X-ray spectra are a convolution of the intrinsic spectra, the foreground absorption, and the detector response function. Because the foreground absorption and detector response are both energy dependent, we need to assume models of the intrinsic spectra and absorption cross-sections to reduce the number of free parameters. We simulate the observed spectra by folding the assumed intrinsic emission and foreground absorption models with the detector response. The observed spectra are fitted by the simulated spectra; the $`\chi ^2`$ of the fits is used to determine the best-fit.

The X-ray emission from LMC 2, as seen in the HRI mosaic (Figure 1 b), is truly diffuse, indicating a hot-plasma origin. Therefore, we adopt Raymond & Smith’s (1977) thin plasma emission models for the intrinsic spectra. We use Morrison & McCammon’s (1983) effective absorption cross-sections per hydrogen atom to model the foreground absorption. The PSPC and SIS data were fitted separately because they were extracted from different regions toward LMC 2.

The spectral fitting of the ASCA SIS data was more difficult than the fitting of the ROSAT PSPC data. The SIS data were contaminated by scattered, high-energy photons from the bright nearby source LMC X-1, an X-ray binary with an accretion disk. Therefore, in the fitting procedure for the SIS data we added a powerlaw and a blackbody disk component, but held the values of the power law photon index and the blackbody disk temperature constant at the values determined by Schlegel et al. (1994) for LMC X-1. We allowed the values of the Raymond-Smith plasma temperature and absorption column to float to the best-fit values. This is not a perfect method to determine the plasma temperature and absorption column of LMC 2 because the scattering of the X-ray photons is both energy- and position-dependent. We may fit the SIS 0 Chip 1 and SIS 1 Chip 3 data simultaneously with the same model because these data were extracted from the same region on the sky.

We performed multiple model fits for each of the extracted regions using XSPEC in which we allowed the abundance to be 20%, 30%, and 40% solar. Although varying the abundance did not noticeably affect the best-fit values of the plasma temperature and absorption column, it did change the parameter space of the $`\chi ^2`$ grid plots of the confidence contours. We find that the range of possible values for the plasma temperature and absorption column are better constrained for the models with 40% solar abundance. For the remainder of this work, however, we use the results from the 30% solar abundance models, the canonical LMC value. Although our choice to use the best-fit values from the 30% solar abundance models may seem arbitrary, this allows us to compare our results with other studies of the hot, ionized medium in the LMC (§5). We note that the $`\chi ^2`$ grid plots for a thermal plasma with 40% solar abundance may cover a smaller area of parameter space because the hot gas has been enriched above the canonical LMC value through the actions of stellar winds and supernova explosions of massive stars.

We performed a $`\chi ^2`$ grid search of possible fits in order to determine the uncertainties in the fits for temperature ($`kT`$) and absorption column density ($`N_H`$). The best-fit plasma temperature and absorption column for a 30% solar abundance Raymond & Smith (1977) thermal plasma model for PSPC and SIS data, as well as the range of the 90% confidence contours, are given in the top section of Table 4. In Figures 4 & 5, we present the X-ray spectra of the different regions, and their $`\chi ^2`$ grid plots for a thermal plasma with 30% solar abundance, respectively. The grid plots show the range of $`\chi ^2`$ fits for $`kT`$ and $`N_H`$ for each extracted region; the three contour levels represent the areas of 68%, 90%, and 99% confidence.

To better constrain the range of $`N_H`$, and thus to better confine the range of plasma temperatures, we calculate the H i column density toward LMC 2. The Galactic values of $`N_H`$ toward LMC 2 are $`6.5\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, determined using the FTOOL “nh” which is derived from the H i map of Dickey & Lockman (1990). The LMC values of $`N_H`$ toward LMC 2 are $`4\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 using the Parkes Multibeam H i Survey. The best-fit values of $`kT`$ for the fixed $`N_H`$ model fits, as well as the 90% confidence ranges for $`kT`$ and $`N_H`$ are given in the bottom section of Table 4. In general, the fixed $`N_H`$ column density is lower than that determined by the floating $`N_H`$ X-ray spectral fits (see Table 4), similar to results obtained toward 30 Doradus (Wang 1999). This appears to be problematic because the Parkes Multibeam Survey samples neutral H i that is both in front of and behind LMC 2. It seems reasonable that the fixed $`N_H`$ column density should represent an upper limit of the absorption column between us and the X-ray emitting plasma. It should be remembered, however, that X-rays are also absorbed by molecular and ionized gas that are not measured in the 21-cm H i emission-line survey, but are measured by the X-ray spectral fits. Observations of the $`J=10`$ CO emission line at 2.6 mm made with the NANTEN 4-m radio telescope (Fukui et al. 1999) do not show CO emission toward the LMC 2 regions of interest in this investigation. The lack of CO emission does not necessarily imply an absence of molecular gas toward the selected regions. The lower dust abundance of the LMC allows UV photons, which would dissociate CO molecules, to penetrate more deeply into molecular clouds and form C+ regions. Observations of the \[C ii\] 158$`\mu `$m emission line toward LMC 2 reveal that the distribution of C+ is more diffuse than the distribution of CO (Mochizuki et al. 1994). Therefore, it is possible that the molecular gas is in a very diffuse phase in which CO is rare because of photo-dissociation. Our calibrated CCD H$`\alpha `$ images of LMC 2 (Paper 1) show the emission measure, $`N_e^2L`$, where $`N_e^2`$ is the electron density and $`L`$ is the path length through the H$`\alpha `$ emitting gas in pc, range from $`250`$ cm-6 pc in the arc region to $`20`$ cm-6 pc in the spur region. If the path length through the H$`\alpha `$ emitting gas is comparable to the width of the filaments defining the eastern boundary of LMC 2 ($`5`$ pc), the ionized column densities toward the regions range from $`N_{H^+}=3.1\times 10^{19}`$ cm-2 in the spur to $`N_{H^+}=1.1\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 in the arc. It is conceivable that the derived absorption column from the free $`N_H`$ X-ray spectral fits may be unrealistically higher than the measured absorption column toward the X-ray spectral regions. Therefore, we use the fixed $`N_H`$ spectral fit parameters for the remainder of this work.

### 4.2 X-ray Surface Brightness and Luminosity of LMC 2

From the model fits to the PSPC and SIS X-ray spectra, we can calculate the unabsorbed X-ray flux, and hence the X-ray luminosities, of the selected regions. Given a hot gas filling factor $`f`$, volume $`V`$, X-ray luminosity $`L_X`$, and emissivity $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the electron density of the hot plasma of the selected regions will be

$$n_e=(1.1L_x)^{1/2}(\mathrm{\Lambda }Vf)^{1/2},$$

if $`n_e=1.1n_H`$. For the regions toward LMC 2 and the spur, the volume of the gas is the product of the projected surface area of the region and the path length through the gas. We adopt a path length comparable to the width of the interstellar structure in question (i.e., 140 pc for the bright northern region, 230 pc for the bright X-ray arc, and 400 pc for the spur). The X-ray emissivity, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, is a function of the plasma temperature. From our fixed $`N_H`$ X-ray model fits to the data, we find that the emissivity of the regions ranges from $`57\times 10^{24}`$ erg cm3 s-1 in the 0.44 – 2.04 keV energy range. We derive the electron densities for the extracted regions toward LMC 2 using the X-ray luminosities and emissivities determined by our fixed $`N_H`$ spectral fits and present them in Table 5.

As seen in Figure 1 a, the X-ray surface brightness varies from region to region toward LMC 2. Because LMC 2 covers a large portion of the PSPC field-of-view, parts of it are obscured by the PSPC window support structure. Thus, we cannot extract a single X-ray spectrum of LMC 2 to determine the integrated X-ray flux of the hot gas. Instead, we determine the total count rate of LMC 2 from the PSPC mosaic in the 0.44 to 2.04 keV energy band. If we assume that LMC 2 is filled by hot gas with a plasma temperature $`kT=0.31`$ keV and an absorption column of $`N_H=4.5\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2, we can use PIMMS222PIMMS is made available from the HEASARC at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/tools/pimms.html. to calculate the intrinsic X-ray flux of LMC 2 to be $`1.4\times 10^{10}`$ erg cm-2 s-1. The intrinsic X-ray flux of the spur is calculated to be $`1.0\times 10^{10}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 for a thermal plasma with temperature $`kT=0.22`$ keV and a hydrogen absorption column of $`N_H=4.5\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2. We caution the reader, however, that these derived values of the X-ray flux were made assuming a uniform absorption column between us and LMC 2 and the spur. Therefore, these values do not accurately reflect the global X-ray fluxes of either of these interstellar structures.

### 4.3 Derived Physical Properties

As X-ray fluxes have now been calculated for both LMC 2 and the spur, we may be tempted to derive their physical conditions, such as electron density ($`n_e`$), thermal energy ($`E_{th}`$), and hot gas mass ($`M`$). This approach, however, would ignore the uncertainties inherent in the assumptions we made in our previous calculation of the intrinsic X-ray flux of LMC 2 and the spur, such as the emitting volume, temperature, and the emissivity of the hot, thermal plasma. Furthermore, we have shown in §3 that the absorption column across LMC 2 is non-uniform. Therefore, the physical conditions of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 and the spur cannot be realistically derived using the global X-ray fluxes calculated in §4.2. Instead, we opt to focus on the physical conditions of the hot gas toward the extracted spectral regions because the plasma temperatures, X-ray fluxes, and hot gas emissivities are explicitly determined by the X-ray spectral fits. To further minimize uncertainties in the derived physical conditions of the hot gas toward our extracted spectral regions, we calculate the surface thermal energy density ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}`$) and the hot gas surface mass density ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }_M`$) instead of $`E_{th}`$ and $`M`$ because they depend on the assumed path length through the hot gas, but not the volume.

In the following analysis we derive the physical properties of the hot gas in our selected regions toward LMC 2. As an example, we calculate the physical properties of the hot gas in the PSPC-Arc region. The electron density of this region is $`n_e=(0.060.08)`$ cm-3. The surface mass density of the hot gas is given by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_M=1.4m_Hn_HVf/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ where $`Vf`$ is the effective volume of the emitting gas and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the surface area of the region in arcmin2. Assuming that $`n_e=1.1n_H`$, the surface mass density of the hot gas in the arc ranges from 65 to 90 $`M_{}`$ arcmin-2. If the X-ray emitting gas behaves as an ideal gas, the surface thermal energy density is given by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }E_{th}=\frac{3}{2}n_eVfkT/\mathrm{\Omega }`$. For the arc, this gives $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}=(0.50.7)\times 10^{50}`$ erg arcmin-2. Furthermore, we may also estimate the number of supernova explosions required to produce the hot gas interior to LMC 2, based on our derived value of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}`$. For a supernova explosion with a total energy of $`5.0\times 10^{50}`$ erg, the thermal energy of the hot gas of the SNR is $`0.2\times 10^{50}`$ erg and has a radius of $`60`$ pc after 106 yr (Slavin & Cox 1992). At the distance to the LMC, the surface thermal energy density of the SNR would be $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}0.004\times 10^{50}`$ erg arcmin-2. Thus, if the hot gas interior to LMC 2 was produced entirely by a series of supernova explosions $`10^6`$ yr ago, then the number of supernova explosions required to energize the arc is 125 – 175. We have obtained UBV photometry to investigate the star formation history toward LMC 2. Those data will allow us to determine the amount of energy massive stars have deposited in the ISM of LMC 2 and will be compared with the thermal energy that is derived here. The physical properties of the arc, as well as those for the other regions toward LMC 2, are presented in Table 6.

Before comparing the physical properties of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 with the physical properties of hot gas in other interstellar structures, we re-iterate the assumptions that underlie our calculations. The first factor we consider that contributes to the uncertainty in our calculations is the volume of the X-ray emitting gas in each of the regions. In this work we simply assume that the volume of a region is the product of its projected surface area and the path length through the region. Because the depth through these regions is uncertain, an increase of the path length by a factor of 2 would alter our determination of the electron density by factor of $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}`$ and our calculations of the the surface thermal energy density and mass by a factor of $`\sqrt{2}`$. Another factor affecting the derivation of the physical properties of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 is the volume filling factor, $`f`$. We have determined the physical conditions of the hot gas using a filling factor of $`f=0.5`$ and $`1.0`$. A filling factor of $`f=0.5`$ increases the derived values of ne by a factor of $`\sqrt{2}`$ and decreases the values $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_M`$ by a factor of $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}`$, with respect to the values determined using a filling factor of $`f=1.0`$. Inspection of Figures 1 a & 1 b reveals that the distribution of the X-ray emission is relatively smooth and does not show much structure. Thus, it is likely that the value of the filling factor of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 lies between these two bounds. The last factors that need to be considered as contributing to the uncertainty in our results are the best-fits to the plasma temperature, $`kT`$, the absorption column, $`N_H`$, and the normalization constant, $`C`$, defined as $`C=\frac{10^{14}n_en_H𝑑V}{4\pi d^2}`$. As seen in the $`\chi ^2`$ grid plots (Figure 5), the confidence contours for the PSPC data show that the thermal plasma spectrum can be fitted by a low plasma temperature and high absorption column or by a high plasma temperature and a low absorption column. For example, if we take the plasma temperature of the PSPC-North region to be the free $`N_H`$ model best-fit ($`kT=0.15`$ keV; $`N_H=8.6\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2), the derived values of $`n_e`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_M`$ are $`7.5`$ times the values derived using the fixed $`N_H`$ model fit values ($`kT=0.31`$ keV; $`N_H=4.8\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2). In this example, the surface thermal energy density is $`3.5`$ times the value calculated for the fixed $`N_H`$ model fits and the intrinsic X-ray flux, $`F_X`$ is increased by a factor of $`20`$.

## 5 Physical Properties of Other Objects with Diffuse X-ray Emission

The hot gas in the ISM is produced by shocks from supernova blasts and fast stellar winds from massive stars. Consequently, the amount of hot gas and its physical conditions depend upon the spatial distribution and formation history of massive stars. Massive stars will form discrete SNRs if they are isolated, superbubbles if there is a single burst of star formation such as an OB association or supergiant shells if there are multiple bursts of star formation that have taken place over a period of time in a concentrated area. SNRs, superbubbles, and supergiant shells are all filled by hot gas which contributes to the HIM (hot ionized medium; McKee & Ostriker 1977) component of the ISM in galaxies. Thus, it is of interest to compare the physical conditions of the hot gas in these interstellar structures.

Below we compare the physical properties of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 with those of: (1) another supergiant shell in the LMC, LMC 4; (2) two superbubbles in the LMC, N 11 and N 44; and (3) a number of SNRs in the LMC. We present the physical properties of these objects in Table 7. The values of the physical properties for these objects were made using the ROSAT bandpass of 0.1 – 2.4 keV and assuming a hot gas filling factor of $`f=1.0`$ unless otherwise noted.

### 5.1 Supergiant Shells in the LMC

The pioneering study of diffuse X-ray emission from within a supergiant shell in the LMC was performed on LMC 2 by Wang & Helfand (1991) using data obtained with the Einstein IPC which operated in the energy range from 0.4 to 4.0 keV. Therefore, as a consistency check, we first compare our results of the physical conditions of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 to those which they derive. Because a detailed spectral analysis of LMC 2 could not be performed using the IPC data, Wang & Helfand (1991) used the mean hardness ratio of the excess X-ray emission from LMC 2 to estimate the temperature of the hot gas. By assuming an optically thin thermal plasma with 50% solar abundance for the emission and a foreground absorption of $`N_H3\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2, they determine the temperature of the X-ray emitting gas to be $`0.43`$ keV. Wang & Helfand (1991) assume the geometry of LMC 2 to be spherical and adopt two different radii to determine the volume and physical properties of the 106 K gas: (1) a radius of $`250`$ pc that covers only the arc region, and (2) a radius of $`500`$ pc that encompasses the entire supergiant shell. They find the density of the hot gas to be $`n_e2\times 10^2`$ cm-3 or $`n_e9\times 10^3`$ cm-3 for an adopted radius of 250 pc or 500 pc. Their derived values of the unabsorbed X-ray flux, $`F_X`$ and the electron density, $`n_e`$ are given in Table 7. Using their derived values, we calculate the surface thermal energy density, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}`$, to be $`0.46\times 10^{50}`$ erg arcmin-2 and $`0.41\times 10^{50}`$ erg arcmin-2 for a spherical bubble of hot gas with a radius of 250 pc and 500 pc, respectively.

The results obtained using the Einstein IPC data are in good agreement with those we determined using the ROSAT PSPC data, but not with the SIS data. For example, their values for the plasma temperature ($`kT=0.43`$ keV) and the absorption column ($`N_H=3\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2) fall within the 90% confidence contour limits of our $`\chi ^2`$ grid-plots of the PSPC data, but not the SIS data (see Figure 5). A factor that may produce a discrepancy between the X-ray spectral fits to our dataset and the analysis of the IPC data is that Wang & Helfand (1991) assume a uniform hydrogen column density toward LMC 2. We have shown in §3.2 that the variations in X-ray surface brightness toward LMC 2 are caused by non-uniform absorption and emission. As discussed previously, a higher adopted absorption column will result in a lower value for the plasma temperature. Therefore, it is likely that the differences between the observed spectral properties and the derived physical conditions can be attributed to the differences in the adopted absorption column.

In addition to LMC 2, diffuse X-ray emission has also been detected in the northern quadrant of the supergiant shell LMC 4 (Bomans, Dennerl, & Kürster 1994) using the ROSAT PSPC in the energy range between 0.1 and 2.4 keV. They find that the best fit Raymond & Smith (1977) plasma temperature to the data is $`kT=0.21`$ keV and the best fit absorption column is $`N_H=0.7\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2. If the diffuse X-ray emission from the northern quadrant of LMC 4 is representative of LMC 4 as a whole, the X-ray flux is $`5\times 10^{11}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 for this supergiant shell. Assuming that LMC 4 is a cylinder with a radius of 600 pc, a height of 1200 pc, and an X-ray emissivity of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=4.0\times 10^{24}`$ erg cm3 s-1, they derive an electron density of $`n_e=8\times 10^3`$ cm-3. Using these values we calculate the surface thermal energy density of LMC 4 to be $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}=0.32\times 10^{50}`$ erg arcmin-2. The derived values of $`F_x`$, $`n_e`$, and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}`$ are listed in Table 7.

The plasma temperature of the hot gas interior to LMC 4 ($`kT=0.21`$ keV) is comparable to that we have determined for LMC 2 at the 90% confidence level, but the absorption column is about an order of magnitude lower. The primary distinction between the X-ray emitting plasma in LMC 2 and LMC 4 is that the electron densities in the regions toward LMC 2 are a factor of $`10`$ greater than that derived for LMC 4. As we have used the same filling factor and a similar X-ray emissivity for the $`10^6`$ K gas as Bomans et al. (1994), the difference in the derived electron densities can be ascribed to the higher unabsorbed X-ray flux determined for LMC 2 and/or through uncertainties in the volume of the emitting thermal plasma. If we adopt a path length through our selected regions toward LMC 2 comparable to that of LMC 4 (i.e., $`l=1200`$ pc), our derived electron densities would be lowered only by a factor of $`35`$. Therefore, we conclude that the electron density of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 is generally higher than the electron density interior to LMC 4.

### 5.2 Superbubbles in the LMC

Diffuse X-ray emission has been detected in several LMC superbubbles. Here we discuss the physical conditions of the hot gas interior to the superbubbles in N 11 and N 44, the two most luminous H ii regions in the LMC after 30 Doradus (Kennicutt & Hodge 1986). N 44 has the highest X-ray surface brightness among all superbubbles in the LMC (Chu & Mac Low 1990), while N 11 is only moderately X-ray bright (Mac Low et al. 1998). The physical properties of the hot gas interior to these two superbubbles are given in Table 7.

Raymond & Smith (1977) spectral model fits to ROSAT PSPC observations of N 11 give a best-fit plasma temperature of $`kT=0.3`$ keV (Mac Low et al. 1998). This plasma temperature is higher than the model spectral fits to our PSPC data toward LMC 2, but is comparable to plasma temperatures determined by the model fits to the SIS data. Using their results we calculate the electron density of N 11 to be $`n_e=0.06`$ cm-3 and the surface thermal energy density to be $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}=0.23\times 10^{50}`$ erg arcmin-2.

Both PSPC and SIS data have been obtained for N 44 (Magnier et al. 1996). Because these observations cover the same region on the sky, the PSPC and SIS X-ray spectra were fit simultaneously with a thermal plasma emission model. The model fits give a plasma temperature of $`kT=0.55`$ keV for the hot gas interior to N 44 (Magnier et al. 1996). Assuming a filling factor of $`f=0.5`$, they derive an electron density of $`n_e=0.14`$ cm-3 from which we calculate the surface thermal energy density to be $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{E_{th}}=0.07\times 10^{50}`$ erg arcmin-2.

The plasma temperatures of the hot gas interior to N 11 is similar to those we determine for the hot gas interior to LMC 2 using the PSPC and SIS data, but are higher in N 44. The electron density and surface thermal energy density for N 11 are on the same order as for the regions toward LMC 2. The electron density of the hot gas interior to N 44 is a factor of $`1.53`$ times higher than that derived for LMC 2, but the surface thermal energy density is $`411`$ times lower. Some of the difference between the derived physical conditions of the hot gas interior to LMC 2 and N 44 may be attributed to the fact that Magnier et al. (1996) used a hot gas filling factor of $`f=0.5`$. The effects of changing the filling factor from $`f=1.0`$ to $`f=0.5`$ are discussed in §4.3.

### 5.3 SNRs in the LMC

Supernova explosions are the main producers of the HIM in galaxies. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the physical properties of the hot gas interior to SNRs, in order to understand the physical conditions of hot gas interior to superbubbles and supergiant shells. Fortunately, the LMC contains a large number of SNRs ($`40`$; Williams 1999) that have been studied extensively at optical and radio wavelengths (Mathewson et al. 1983; 1984; 1985) and X-ray wavelengths (Williams et al. 1997; 1999; Williams 1999; Hughes et al. 1998). Williams (1999) has compiled the most comprehensive list of the X-ray properties of LMC SNRs to date. Of the LMC SNR sample, twenty-three have ROSAT PSPC data available with sufficient count rates for spectral modeling. For this dataset, Williams (1999) finds that the plasma temperature ranges from $`kT=0.14`$ to 0.89 keV and that the electron density ranges from $`n_e=0.05`$ to $`20`$ cm-3. The published physical conditions of 4 of these SNRs are listed in Table 7.

Clearly, the hot gas interior to SNRs in the LMC shows a wide range of physical conditions. This is not surprising as they have different ages and interstellar environments. We see that most of these LMC SNRs have plasma temperatures that are higher than LMC 2, but have electron densities that are comparable to it.

## 6 Summary

The supergiant shell LMC 2 has the highest X-ray surface brightness of all LMC supergiant shells. We have obtained ROSAT PSPC and HRI mosaics to study the distribution of X-ray emission from LMC 2. Comparison of the X-ray mosaics with H$`\alpha `$ images show that the X-ray emission is detected within the shell boundary of LMC 2, indicating the presence of hot ($`10^6`$ K) gas. In general, regions of low X-ray surface brightness are well-correlated with regions of high H i column density, suggesting that some of the variations in X-ray surface brightness toward LMC 2 are caused by non-uniform absorption.

In addition to the X-ray mosaics, we have also obtained ROSAT PSPC and ASCA SIS X-ray spectra to determine the physical conditions of the hot gas interior to LMC 2. Model fits of an optically thin thermal plasma (Raymond & Smith 1977) to the X-ray spectra of selected regions show that the hot gas has a plasma temperature $`kT=0.1`$$`0.4`$ keV with a best-fit of $`kT0.3`$ keV for our PSPC and SIS data. The electron density of the hot gas varies from $`n_e0.05`$ to 0.09 cm-3. The unabsorbed X-ray flux in the 0.44 – 2.04 keV band is $`1.4\times 10^{10}`$ erg cm-2 s-1.

We have compared the physical properties of LMC 2 with other supergiant shells, superbubbles, and SNRs in the LMC. The derived electron densities of the LMC 2 regions are generally comparable to the values determined for the supergiant shell LMC 4 and the superbubble N 11, but are lower than those determined for the superbubble N 44 and a sample of SNRs in the LMC. The plasma temperature of LMC 2 is comparable to that determined for LMC 4 and N 11, but is generally lower than the plasma temperatures determined N 44, and SNRs in the LMC.

This work is supported by NASA grants NAG 5-2973 and NAG 5-8104. This research has made use of data obtained from the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. SDP wishes to thank J. Turner for many helpful discussions on the reduction of ROSAT PSPC data using XSPEC. SDP also wishes to thank Q. D. Wang and for his helpful comments.

## Appendix A ROSAT Pointed Observations Toward LMC 2

Here we present Tables A1 and A2 which list the individual ROSAT pointed observations that were mosaicked to produce the PSPC and HRI mosaics, respectively. These tables contain the number of data sets for each observation, the pointing direction, exposure time, and target name.

Figure Captions