text:
# 1 Experimental

Preprint of Letter to the Editor

To be published in J. Phys. G

Version,

Further search for a neutral boson
with a mass around 9 MeV/c2
F.W.N. de Boer2,***E-mail address: fokke@nikhef.nl, K. Bethge1, H. Bokemeyer3, R. van Dantzig2,

J. van Klinken4, V. Mironov5, K.A. Müller1 and K.E. Stiebing1

1) Institut für Kernphysik der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität,
D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2) Nationaal Instituut voor Kernfysica en Hoge-Energie Fysica,
NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3) Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany
4) Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut, 9747 AA Groningen, The Netherlands
5) Laboratory of Particle Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research,
141980, Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia

## Abstract

Two dedicated experiments on internal pair conversion (IPC) of isoscalar M1 transitions were carried out in order to test a 9 MeV/c2 $`X`$-boson scenario. In the 7Li($`p,e^+e^{})^8`$Be reaction at 1.1 MeV proton energy to the predominantly T=0 level at 18.15 MeV, a significant deviation from IPC was observed at large pair correlation angles. In the 11B($`d,ne^+e^{})^{12}`$C reaction at 1.6 MeV, leading to the 12.71 MeV $`1^+`$ level with pure T=0 character, an anomaly was observed at 9 MeV/c2. The compatibility of the results with the scenario is discussed.

1. Introduction

A neutral boson can in principle be emitted in a nuclear transition within the constraints of spin-parity and energy-momentum conservation. In magnetic transitions such a boson should have a pseudoscalar ($`0^{}`$) or an axial vector $`(1^+)`$ character, and in electric transitions a scalar $`(0^+)`$ or a vector $`(1^{})`$ character. When its mass is above 1.022 MeV, the signature of $`X`$-boson emission could be the two-body decay into $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs superposed on conventional internal pair conversion (IPC) . In a survey  of data for IPC of transitions in several nuclei \[4-8\] with energies above 10 MeV, an anomaly with respect to IPC appears at an invariant mass of approximately 9 MeV/c2. Whereas (partial) isoscalar M1 transitions exhibit an excess of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs at large opening angles no deviations occur in isovector E1 and M1 transitions . Interpreting this anomaly in the perspective of a short-lived ($`\tau 10^{10}`$ s) neutral $`X`$-boson of 9 MeV/c2 , the deviations in isoscalar M1 transitions would indicate an isoscalar character for such a boson with spin-parity 0- or 1+.

The branching ratio  for emission of an elusive $`X`$-boson with respect to $`\gamma `$-emission in nuclear dipole transitions can be written as

$$B_X=\frac{\alpha _X}{2\alpha }\beta ^3,$$
(1)
where $`\alpha _X`$ is the the isospin dependent effective boson-nucleon coupling strength, relative to $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }=1.710^6`$ (the axion-nucleon coupling strength), $`\alpha `$ the fine structure constant. Measured values for $`B_X`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_X`$, $`\alpha _X`$ and $`m_X`$ for the different M1 transitions are listed in Table 1. Results from the previous studies have been included. The average $`m_X`$ is found to be ($`9.1\pm 0.4`$) MeV/c2.

The investigations were triggered, about a decade ago, by the observation of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs in an emulsion study  at short distance from the interaction vertex, using 4He, 12C and 22Ne projectiles at 4.5 GeV/A and 32S at 200 GeV/A. In a plot  of the invariant mass $`m_X`$ against the lifetime $`\tau `$, derived from the observed parameters of the pairs, a distinct cluster of 10 events with average invariant mass of 8.8 MeV/c2 and lifetime of 6$`10^{16}`$ s was observed, with a background of external pair conversion (EPC)  from $`\gamma `$-rays mostly from $`\pi ^o`$ decay.

In the field of very high energy cosmic-ray interactions, possibly related results came from the the JACEE collaboration . In emulsion chambers multiple electron pairs were observed in heavy particle decays, which could not be explained in terms of known decay modes. However, the pairs were found to be consistent with the hypothesis that some as yet unidentified, light neutral particles with masses less than 100 MeV/c2 were emitted in bottom decay, which subsequently decayed into $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs. Quite recently, revisiting the data, the observations were reported  to be not inconsistent with a light neutral boson with a mass of 9 MeV/c2 and lifetime of $`1.410^{15}`$ s.

On the basis of the available data on the IPC anomaly  an $`X`$-boson scenario has been proposed, where $`X`$ stands for an isoscalar pseudoscalar particle, with its coupling strength $`\alpha _X`$ proportional to the isoscalar strength of the M1 transition. However, the isoscalar strength in a nuclear transition is in general unpredictable, because even a relatively small—mostly not well known—T=1 component in one of the levels gives a predominant isovector contribution. This in turn is because the isovector strength is typically two orders of magnitude larger than the isoscalar strength. In addition, both the isovector and isoscalar strength range over three orders of magnitude (see Fig. 5). Hence, the sensitivity for detection of an $`X`$-boson signal in a given M1 transition from a primarily T=0 level with a substantial T=1 component can be estimated only by order of magnitude. From Table 1 it can be inferred that the sensitivity of the $`X`$-boson searches—expressed in the ratio of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_X`$ to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$—varies between 10-8 and 10-5.

2. New Experiments

In order to test the $`X`$-boson scenario, a dedicated search of $`e^+e^{}`$ angular correlations in isoscalar transitions is mandatory. The signal observed  for the relatively pure isoscalar M1 ground state transition from the $`1^+`$, $`(99.87\pm 0.12)`$%  T=0) level at 12.71 MeV in 12C should be checked at a high level of significance. For this particular transition the isoscalar strength can be deduced from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\gamma `$ with 20 % accuracy because of the very small (0.0021) T=1 fraction in the level.

To perform such a test, new experiments were carried out at the Institut für Kernphysik in Frankfurt (IKF) using the proton and deuteron beams of the 2.5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator. The detector was the same as the one used in the previous experiments . It consists of eight $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E-E plastic detectors mounted at various angles. Combinations of these telescopes cover an $`e^+e^{}`$ correlation angular range from 20o to 130o, which corresponds to a window of the invariant mass of 3 to 15 MeV/c2 for a neutral boson at a transition energy of 18 MeV for coincidences between electrons and positrons.

For absolute normalisation of the population of relevant nuclear levels, a large 135 cm2 Ge(Li) detector was used as monitor. It was mounted under 90o with respect to the beam direction in order to minimise Doppler broadening. The FWHM resolution was $`20`$ keV at 6.13 MeV and $`30`$ keV at 17.64 MeV, sufficient to separate photo peaks, single escape and double escape peaks of the relevant $`\gamma `$-transitions.

As a consistency check of the apparatus and its calibration, the angular correlation of electron-positron pairs in the $`0^+0^+`$ E0 decay from the 6.05 MeV $`0^+`$ level in 16O following the 19F($`p,\alpha e^+e^{}`$) reaction at 1.6 MeV was remeasured .

In addition, the null effect for the E1 decay from the $`1^{}`$ level at 17.23 MeV in 12C was verified by remeasuring the 11B + $`p`$ 12C capture reaction at 1.6 MeV .

2a. The 7Li$`(p,e^+e^{})^8`$Be reaction at 1.1 MeV

In the $`1^+`$ level at 18.15 MeV in 8Be, the isoscalar component amounts to 90% compared to 5%  in the 17.64 MeV level, where the anomaly was first observed. Assuming that the isoscalar transition strengths TS of the transitions to the pure T=0 ground state and the first excited state—with similar energies and in the same nucleus—scale with the T=0 component of the depopulating level, a factor twenty larger anomaly may be expected in the transitions from the 18.15 MeV level, compared to what was actually measured  for the 17.64 MeV level.

The angular correlation of the $`e^+e^{}`$ decay from the 18.15 MeV resonance at 1.05 MeV was studied by means of the 7Li + p $`^8`$Be capture reaction at a proton energy of 1.1 MeV, for a period of four days. Targets of natural Li2O with typical thicknesses of 600 $`\mu `$g/cm2 were used. From an analysis of the Ge(Li) $`\gamma `$-spectrum, it follows that the 17.64 MeV level is populated by 25% with respect to the excitation of the 18.15 MeV resonance.

In Fig. 1a the experimental angular correlation is displayed for $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs integrated over all sum energies of the different angular combinations. Fig. 1c shows the measured values divided by IPC. The data are normalised to unity for the correlation angles at 42o, 54.6o and 57o. At these angles contributions from EPC can be neglected. An excess of pairs is observed above $`76^o`$ rising towards the largest angles. However, this is different from expectations since GEANT MC simulations for emission of a 9 MeV/c2 boson in the ground state transition yield an enhancement starting at $`55^o`$. From a comparison with the simulations an upper limit of $`4.110^4`$ is derived for the $`X`$-boson branching ratio in this transition. We note that in case of a slight boson excess at the normalisation angles, any possible evidence for a large angle enhancement would decrease.

The excess at large angles can be consistent with $`X`$-boson emission in the 15.15 MeV transition depopulating the 18.15 MeV resonance to the first excited state in 8Be. This is illustrated in Figs. 1b and 1d displaying MC simulations for a 9.5 MeV/c2 $`X`$-boson in the 15.15 MeV transition with a branching ratio of $`(5.8\pm 2.2)10^4`$.

2b. The 11B($`d,ne^+e^{})^{12}`$C reaction at 1.6 MeV

In the $`X`$-boson scenario  a strong $`e^+e^{}`$ signal  with a branching ratio with respect to the $`\gamma `$-ray intensity of about half the IPC coefficient of $`2.710^3`$ can be expected  for the pure isoscalar M1 transition from the 12.71 MeV 1+, T=0 level to the ground state in 12C. The 12C($`p,p^{})^{12}`$C and the 11B($`d,n)^{12}`$C reactions at subthreshold beam energies for the 15.11 MeV 1+, T=1 level appear to be appropriate to investigate the 12.71 MeV resonance. Using the IKF Van de Graaff accelerator we could utilise the 11B$`(d,ne^+e^{})^{12}`$C stripping reaction at a deuteron energy of 1.6 MeV leading to the 12.71 MeV $`1^+`$ level with a $`\sigma _\gamma `$ of 1.2 mb . Unfortunately the parallel excitation branch 11B($`d,p)^{12}`$B forms several sources of background:

1. The 12B ground state decays with a $`\beta ^{}`$-spectrum (endpoint 13.17 MeV) with a cross-section as large as 380 mb  in 97.1% of the cases to the 12C ground state with $`t_{\frac{1}{2}}`$ = 20.2 ms. Random $`\beta ^{}`$ coincidences produce a broad background, with maximum energy at $``$13 MeV, which—dependent on beam intensity—can completely obscure the 12.71 MeV sum-energy peak of interest.
2. The 1.3% $`\beta ^{}`$-branch populating the first excited state at 4.44 MeV followed by internal (IPC)  and external (EPC) $`\gamma `$-conversion  allow real coincidences to produce a broad distribution with a maximum around 6 MeV.
3. The 3.4 MeV $`e^+e^{}`$ sum-energy peak of the 4.44 MeV level in 12C appears as intrinsic background, being partly directly populated in the ($`d,n`$) reaction.

These background sources were largely suppressed by implementing a beam pulser into the beam line. The beam was periodically deflected from the target into a Faraday cup. The period on target and the deflection time could be adjusted over a wide range. A beam on/off setting of 1.0/100 ms was found optimal.

In the production runs the total beam intensity had still to be limited to 4 $`\mu `$A, the beam on target being 40 nA. Two targets were used, one consisting of more than 99.9% enriched 11B with a thickness of 600 $`\mu `$g/cm2 sandwiched between 2 $`\mu `$ thick titanium foil, manufactured at JINR (Dubna). The other was made at KVI (Groningen) and consisted of 98% enriched 11B evaporated with a thickness of 600 $`\mu `$g/cm2 on a 2 $`\mu `$ thick gold foil. In a two weeks period an effective beam time of 100 hours was reached with the KVI target in place. For the Dubna target a shorter beam time of 44 hours was left to accumulate which is reflected in the larger error bars. The occurrence of $`p`$-capture on 11B from any accelerated molecular hydrogen (contamination in the deuterium gas bottle) was suppressed by a gas stripper in front of the analysing magnet of the Van de Graaff accelerator.

The population of the 12.71 MeV level in the 11B(d,n)12C reaction was obtained by detecting in the Ge(Li) detector the 12.71 MeV and 8.27 MeV $`\gamma `$-rays to the 12C ground state and first excited state. In the $`\gamma `$-ray spectra from both targets a peak occurs at 7.64 MeV from the decay of the degenerate 3+ and 2+ levels at $``$9.35 MeV in 28Si. These levels are selectively populated in the 27Al($`d,n`$) reaction , presumably due to (beam halo) deuterons reacting with the aluminium target frames. Moreover, a contamination of 2% 10B in the KVI target inducing the 10B$`(d,p)^{11}`$B reaction \[22-24\] caused a strong contribution of $`\gamma `$-rays at 4.49, 6.76 and 8.92 MeV.

Random coincidences due to the remaining $`\beta ^{}`$ background were subtracted by selecting windows on the prompt and delayed parts of the time spectra. In the sum-energy spectra obtained in this way for the different runs, a complex of several sum peaks could be identified at 21.8o, one of the smallest correlation angles between neighbouring detectors, which contain the highest statistics but also a substantial EPC contribution, and at the correlation angles 37.2o, 42.0o and 54.6o (see Fig. 2). Sum-energy lines corresponding with the observed $`\gamma `$-ray transitions are indicated. A comparison of the widths of the 4.44 MeV sum-energy lines in the KVI and Dubna spectra shows that the 2 $`\mu `$ supporting titanium layer does not notably influence the resolution in the latter spectrum.

A global analysis of the spectra has been made by integrating the yields of the spectra in four 4 MeV wide intervals without attempting to fit the complex structures. In Fig. 3 from top to bottom the background subtracted angular correlations are exhibit for the two targets. The curves show parameterised functions  representing the theoretical  IPC angular distributions of M1 transitions. Like for the 8Be experiment, they are normalised to unity for the correlation angles at 42o, 54.6o and 57o, where EPC is not expected to contribute significantly.

A fair agreement with IPC assuming M1 character is observed over the whole angular range for $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs in the first two intervals with sum-energies below 8 MeV. Deviations from IPC show up for the 8 - 12 MeV and 12 - 16 MeV intervals.

The correlation of the $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs in a 4 MeV window around the sum-energy peak of the 12.71 MeV transition is shown in the top figures of Fig. 4. A clearly visible but statistically marginal enhancement over IPC shows up at large correlation angles $`90^o`$ for both the KVI and the Dubna target. In the bottom figures these distributions are divided by the corresponding IPC values. They are normalised to unity for the correlation angles between 40o and 60o. The combined statistical significance amounts to 3.5$`\sigma `$.

A comparison with the simulations for the two-body decay of a short-lived neutral boson yields an invariant mass of ($`9\pm 1`$) MeV/c2 and a branching ratio of $`(7\pm 3)10^4`$, a factor two below—though within $`1\sigma `$ compatible with—the value of $`(1.6\pm 0.7)10^3`$ given in . An $`\alpha _X`$ value of $`18\pm 7`$ has been derived with Eq. 1 and listed in Table 1. The fair agreement of this enhancement with the previous observation  motivates a high statistics experiment  in the future.

3. Discussion of the results

In light nuclei the experimental $`\gamma `$-ray transition width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\gamma `$ from isospin mixed levels can be expressed as the sum of the scalar and isovector transition width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_S`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_V`$. The transition strength Tγ is defined as the transition width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\gamma `$ divided by the Weisskopf estimate or unit ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_W`$ or w.u). For transitions to pure T=0 states, it is the sum of the separate isoscalar and isovector strength TS and TV, scaled by the T=0 (T=1) fraction $`x`$ (1-$`x`$) in the depopulating level, according to:

$$\mathrm{T}_\gamma =\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\gamma }{\mathrm{\Gamma }_W}=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_S}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_W}+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_V}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_W}=x\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{S}+(1x)\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{V}.$$
(2)
A compilation of known transitions strengths TV and TS for pure isovector ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$T=1, $`x`$=0) respectively isoscalar ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$T=0, $`x`$=1) transitions has been made for self-conjugate (A = 2Z) nuclei by Skorka et al.. Histograms of the logarithm of the strength for both cases are shown in Figs. 5a and 5b. We assume that for unmeasured transitions the probability of the isoscalar respectively isovector strength is according to these distributions.

Both (on a log-scale) Gaussian shaped distributions have a FWHM corresponding to two orders of magnitude, and standard deviations of factors 7.4 and 10.6 respectively. The average values for the isovector respectively isoscalar transitions were found  as T$`{}_{V}{}^{ave}=0.395`$ and T$`{}_{S}{}^{ave}=4.9710^3`$. They are indicated in Fig. 5. The ratio T$`{}_{}{}^{ave}{}_{S}{}^{}`$/T$`{}_{}{}^{ave}{}_{V}{}^{}`$ is 0.0126, in fair agreement with the value of 0.0082 given by de Shalit and Feshbach  in the long wave length limit.

The levels at 12.71 and 15.11 MeV in 12C have nearly pure T=0 respectively T=1 character . A TS value for the 12.71 MeV ground state transition has been derived using Eq. 2 while taking the average TV value  with an error such as to include all TV values of Table 2. The small error in TV for the 15.11 MeV transition reflects the small value of $`x`$ in Eq. 2. This specific TS/TV ratio, 0.0129 $`\pm `$ 0.0024, is in good agreement with T$`{}_{}{}^{ave}{}_{S}{}^{}`$/T$`{}_{}{}^{ave}{}_{V}{}^{}`$ and also with the theoretical expectation. The isospin structure of these essentially pure transitions is thus sufficiently well understood to be used for further analysis.

For consistency evaluation the $`X`$-boson scenario can be tried out as analyser of isoscalar width and consequently strength. Using Eq. 1 the isoscalar and isovector transition widths $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_S`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_V`$ can straightforwardly be derived as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_S=\mathrm{\Gamma }_\gamma (\frac{\alpha _X}{\alpha _X^o}),\mathrm{\Gamma }_V=\mathrm{\Gamma }_\gamma [1(\frac{\alpha _X}{\alpha _X^o})].$$
(3)
From the average $`\alpha _X`$ value of $`21\pm 6`$ for the 12.71 MeV ground state transition (see Table 1) a maximum boson-nucleon coupling strength $`\alpha _X^o=24\pm 8`$ can be expected for a pure isoscalar transition. The width parameters $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_S`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_V`$ for the M1 transitions under investigation calculated using Eq. 3 are listed in Table 2. The related strength parameters TS and TV, taking the old literature isospin assignments , are included in Table 2 and in Fig 5.

The TV values are (on the log-scale) all within $`0.5\sigma `$ in the middle of the distribution in Fig 5 (top). In Fig 5 (bottom) the TS values are more scattered: those for the 17.64 and 14.64 MeV are at the tail ($`1.5\sigma `$) of the distribution. Within the typical errors in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_S`$ ($``$50%, see Table 2), they are factors 36 and 30 enhanced with respect to the average TS value (Ave).

The deduced TS values for the transitions from the 18.15 MeV level are within 0.5$`\sigma `$ consistent with the average TS value. The relative smallness of the upper limit for the TS value of the 18.15 MeV transition—about a factor 20 below the TS values for the 17.64 decay—could explain the absence of a visible anomaly. To test the scenario in this case would require at least an order of magnitude higher accuracy in the measurement, which is at present difficult to attain.

4. Summary

Results of two dedicated experiments are reported yielding further indications for an anomaly at 9 MeV/c2 in the angular correlation of IPC. The first experiment (8Be) shows a deviation from IPC at large correlation angles presumably due to the same anomaly in the transition to the first excited state. The second experiment (12C) shows a relatively large anomaly at 9 MeV/c2 albeit with limited statistics. Both results are compatible with an $`X`$-boson scenario where the boson-nucleon coupling strength is proportional to the isoscalar strength in the M1 transition. Exploiting isospin structure as a guideline, further high statistics experiments are needed to establish the nature of the anomaly.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the staff of the 2.5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator at IKF for providing clean and stable proton and deuteron beams. This work has been supported by the Bundesministerium für Forschung and Technology of the Federal Republic of Germany. Some of us (RvD, JvK) have been supported by the Dutch research organisations FOM and NWO. One of us (FWNdB) gratefully acknowledges support from Promis Engineering Advisory Agency, The Netherlands.


format: text

text:
# Reflection Shocked Gas in the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The Cygnus Loop is the prototype of evolved shell-like supernova remnants (SNR). Its large apparent size and high surface brightness make it an ideal object for the study of the interaction between the supernova blast wave and the interstellar matter or the interstellar cloud in detail. Theoretical calculations of these interactions have been carried out by many authors (Sgro 1975; McKee & Cowie 1975; McKee & Ostriker 1977; Spitzer 1982; McKee 1987; Klein, McKee & Colella 1994).

Various optical and ultraviolet observations of the Cygnus Loop have been performed to study the shock waves and their interactions. Cox (1972) suggested that the Cygnus Loop is in the radiative cooling phase of its evolution. X-ray observations, however, revealed that the Cygnus Loop is in the adiabatic phase and is still evolving (e.g. Ku et al.1984; Charles et al. 1985; Miyata et al. 1994). McKee & Cowie (1975) modeled the interaction between a blast wave and an interstellar cloud and were able to explain the discrepancies between the optically measured velocities of the filaments and the blast wave velocity inferred from X-ray observations.

There are two models to explain the apparent optical and X-ray emission; an evaporation model and a reflection shock model. The evaporation model was proposed by McKee & Cowie (1975). They modeled a blast wave propagating into an inhomogeneous interstellar medium where there are many small clouds (cloudlets). In this model, the cloudlets are not directly heated by the shock wave but are evaporated due to thermal conduction by the ambient hot gas. This model was applied to both optical data (Fesen, Blair, & Kirshner 1982) and X-ray data (Tsunemi & Inoue 1980; Ku et al. 1984). It was, however, ruled out for the eastern region of the Cygnus Loop (e.g. Hester & Cox 1986, hereafter HC). Recent observations of \[Ne V\] emission at the eastern region also suggests that thermal evaporation does not play an important role (Szentgyorgyi et al. 2000).

The reflection shock is important when the cloud size is large ($``$ 1pc). Recent optical and X-ray data have been explained in the context of this model at various portions of the Cygnus Loop; the southeastern blob (SE blob) by Graham et al. 1995, the eastern region by HC and Raymond et al. 1988, and the northeastern (NE) region by Hester, Raymond & Blair 1994.

Such a large scale cloud reminds us of a pre-existing cavity wall produced by the precursor, as was first proposed by McCray & Snow (1979). Shull & Hippelein (1991) measured proper motions at 39 locations within the Cygnus Loop and found an asymmetric expansion of the shell. They also concluded the existence of a pre-existing cavity wall around the Cygnus Loop. This model is also supported by observations of coronal iron line emission (Teske 1990), observations with IRAS (Braun & Strom 1986) and observations with the Rosat HRI (Levenson et al. 1997). Miyata & Tsunemi (1999, hereafter MT) found a large density discontinuity at the NE region. Combined with a large estimated mass of the progenitor star, they also supposed the existence of a pre-existing cavity.

In this paper, we carried out spatially-resolved X-ray spectroscopy of the eastern and northern regions of the Cygnus Loop. Data analyzed here were obtained with the ASCA Observatory and the ROSAT Observatory.

## 2 OBSERVATIONS AND DATA CORRECTIONS

We observed the eastern and northern regions of the Cygnus Loop in 1993-1994 with the ASCA observatory (Tanaka, Inoue, & Holt 1984). Figure 7 shows the location of SIS FOVs with black squares superimposed on an X-ray surface brightness map of the Cygnus Loop (Aschenbach & Leahy 1994). A detailed observational log is given in Table 1. We used the Faint-mode data obtained with the SIS to achieve the best spectral resolution (Yamashita et al. 1997). We excluded the data taken at an elevation angle below 5 from the night earth rim and 50 from the day earth rim, a geomagnetic cutoff rigidity lower than 6 GeV c-1, and the region of the South Atlantic Anomaly. We also eliminated times when the pulse heights of corner pixels rapidly change. We then removed the hot and flickering pixels and corrected CTI, DFE, and Echo effects (Dotani et al. 1995; Dotani et al. 1997) in our data sets by using sispi and faint commands. Since we performed the observation of the northern region in the ASCA PV phase, the residual dark distribution (RDD) effect is not serious even for 4CCD mode data. However, the data of the eastern region observed in 1994 were degraded due to the RDD effect (see detail in Dotani 1995). Therefore, we corrected the RDD effect for the eastern region using the frame data obtained near to the epoch of our observation. We retrieved the frame data taken for the calibration observation of Cyg X-1 and anonymous sky (their sequence numbers are 18941107, 10021040 and 10021060) since they were observed in 1994 November.

X-ray spectra accumulated in four regions are shown in Figure 7. We can confirm that the X-ray emission is dominated by thermal emission and emission lines from Mg and Si are clearly detected whereas emission lines from O, Ne, and Fe are weak.

## 3 DATA ANALYSIS

We investigated the spatial distribution of physical parameters using the SIS data in detail, using the same method as in MT in the northern region. In the northern region, we divided our FOV into 3′ squares each of which corresponds to the half-power diameter of the XRT (Serlemitsos et al. 1995). Furthermore, we arranged the small squares such that each square overlapped adjacent squares by 2′ resulting in 400 spectra.

In the eastern region, however, the surface brightness is lower than that of the northern region as shown in Table 1. We divided our FOV into 5′ in order to obtain statistics similar to those for the northern region. Each small region is arranged such that each square overlapped adjacent squares by 2′ resulting in 49 spectra from each eastern region.

Because the optical axes of SIS0 and SIS1 were different from each other, we employed the ascatool library to adjust the optical axes. After adding the spectra of SIS-0 and SIS-1, we applied the single component non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) model coded by K. Masai (Masai 1984; Masai 1994) to each spectrum. Free parameters of the fitting were $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$, ionization parameter (log($`\tau `$)), abundances of O, Ne, Mg, Si, Fe, and Ni, and emission measure (EM in cm-6 pc). Values for the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ ranged from 1 to 2.

### 3.1 Plasma Structure of the Eastern Region

Figure 7 shows the spatial variation of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ and log($`\tau `$) for the eastern region. We find a complicated $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ structure revealed by the SIS. The values of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ do not smoothly increase toward the center of the Cygnus Loop, but have local maxima at the crossing point of three observations ($``$ 0.6 keV) and the northern region of pos-EU ($``$ 0.8 keV). This $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ distribution cannot be explained with a blast wave model propagating into a homogeneous medium. On the contrary, the spatial variation of log$`(\tau )`$ is relatively uniform with $`10.3\pm 0.4`$. We can confirm the hot plasma is still in the ionizing phase.

#### 3.1.1 Comparison with the ROSAT Image

We retrieved the ROSAT PSPC data from the HEASARC/GSFC. The sequence number was RP500090. The X-ray surface brightness map obtained with the ROSAT PSPC is shown in Figure 7 (upper). Black squares show the FOVs of the SISs. Vignetting corrections were performed using the EXSAS/MIDAS software package. We see the instrumental structure due to the ribs of the window support of the PSPC which are seen only in a direction parallel to the direction of the telescope wobble. We found significant inhomogeneities in our FOVs. They could not be explained with a simple blast wave model. There is a bright clump (c1) at the PSPC center ($`\alpha =20^\mathrm{h}57^\mathrm{m}14^\mathrm{s},\delta =31^{}1^{}55^{\prime \prime }`$) with a radius of 2.$`^{}`$7 ($``$ 0.6 pc) where we guess that the blast wave is moving into a dense region and has stagnated. The region named c1 is the bright part of “XA” named in HC. The regions to the north and south of c1 seem to have lower density, which means that the blast wave goes ahead of c1. There is another bright clump to the south of c1 which is the SE blob. To the west of c1, we see a bright arc structure which is the left portion of pos-ER.

The lower panel of Figure 7 shows the surface brightness map obtained with the SIS. Comparing these two images, we notice that c1, marked with a black circle, is not bright in the SIS image. The bright regions in the ASCA energy band (0.5$``$10 keV) are the northeast region of pos-ER and the southwestern region of pos-EU. The effective energy range of the PSPC is 0.1$``$2.4 keV while that of the SIS is 0.5$``$10 keV. There is a big difference in the sensitivity below the C-K edge. Therefore, possible interpretations of the discrepancies between the ROSAT and ASCA images are 1) the presence of a low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component at c1, 2) the presence of a high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component at ASCA bright region, and/or 3) an extremely low $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ around c1.

#### 3.1.2 Band Ratio Map of the PSPC

We constructed a band ratio map using the PSPC data by dividing the 0.44$``$2.0 keV band (R3$``$R7) image by the 0.11$``$0.28 keV band (R1$``$R2) image, shown in Figure 7. We clearly see a soft X-ray emitting region along the shock front in the FOV. The softest region is at c1 in this figure, shown in white. We also found a soft X-ray emitting region around c1 as shown by a circle (hereafter referred to as c2). Around c2, a hard X-ray emitting region extends and wraps around c2 where $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ determined with the SIS is also high as shown in Figure 7.

#### 3.1.3 Combined Spectral Analysis

As shown in Figure 7, a spectral variation is seen in the PSPC data. We analyzed the PSPC spectra at various positions within the FOV. We used xselect to extract the X-ray spectra, and used the response function pspcb\_gain2\_256.rmf for the spectral fits. The effective areas of the XRT were calculated by pcarf, which included vignetting effects. Figure 7 shows the five regions (c1, r1$``$r4) where spectra were extracted. The spectrum obtained for each region is shown in Figure 7. The background spectrum was extracted from a blank region in the same data set. We clearly see strong soft X-ray emission below the C K-edge in all regions. This soft excess could account for the difference in the surface brightness maps between the ROSAT and ASCA energy bands.

We extracted the SIS spectra from the same region as the PSPC (c1, r1$``$r4) and simultaneously fitted the PSPC and SIS spectra. We applied the NEI model for these spectra. All parameters except the normalization were linked between the SIS and PSPC spectra. Free parameters were $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$, log($`\tau `$), abundances of O, Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe, $`N_\mathrm{H}`$, normalizations for both the SIS spectra and the PSPC spectra. We could not obtain statistically acceptable fits with a single component NEI model. In all PSPC spectra, we found excess emission below the C K-edge. We confirmed that such excess emission could not be reproduced with extremely low $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ such as $`10^{19}`$ cm-2. We therefore added another component with a different $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ to reproduce the low energy region of the spectra. The low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component was mainly detected in the PSPC energy band. Due to the insufficient energy resolving power of the PSPC, we could not determine the individual abundance of heavy elements and log($`\tau `$) for the low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component. We therefore assumed cosmic abundances and the condition of ionization equilibrium for the low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component. We obtained acceptable fits for all regions. Best fit curves are shown in Figure 7 and parameters are summarized in Table 2 and 3.

Including the ROSAT PSPC (C-band), we found a very low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component. The ASCA SIS is insensitive to such a low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component. The $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ values obtained for high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components are similar in all regions and also similar to those obtained at the NE region (MT). The values of log($`\tau `$) are also similar in all regions whereas they are slightly higher than those in the NE region.

Since the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ value obtained for low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component is extremely low, the major part of its emission is below the PSPC band. Therefore, the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ value obtained might contain some uncertainties because we only observe a small fraction of the spectrum. Moreover, the emissivity of such low-$`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ plasma is very large (typically $`10^{22}`$ erg s-1 cm-3 for plasma with cosmic abundances; Gehrels & Williams 1993), resulting to quickly cool down to $`10^5`$ K. Other narrow band studies, however, reveal the existence of such low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ plasma. Images of \[Fe X\] and \[Fe XIV\] lines showed the existence of the cooler X-ray emitting plasma in the vicinity of the eastern region of the Cygnus Loop (Teske 1990; Teske & Kirshner 1985; Ballet et al. 1984). The image of the \[Ne V\] line showed bright filaments in the vicinity of c1, r1, and r2 regions (Szentgyorgyi et al. 2000) whereas it did not cover other regions. As \[Ne V\] is a unique probe of plasma with $`(16)\times 10^5`$ K, we confirm that the extremely low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component is surely present at c1 and r1.

We should note that the metal abundances are depleted at c1 and r4 while they are comparable to the cosmic values at r1, r2 and r3. This reminds us the spatial structure detected at the NE region of the Cygnus Loop. In the NE region, abundances of heavy elements are also depleted and shows an increase toward the inner region (MT). At the shell, a radius of $`0.9R_s`$ in the NE region where $`R_s`$ is the shock radius, they are constant (0.15$``$0.3 times cosmic values), whereas, behind the shell, they are 20$``$30% larger than those obtained at the shell. Therefore, abundances at c1 and r4 are consistent with those obtained at the shell whereas those obtained at r1, r2, and r3 are qualitatively consistent with those obtained behind the shell with considering the statistical errors.

### 3.2 Plasma Structure of the Northern Region

Figure 7 shows the spatial variations of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ and log($`\tau `$) in the pos-NN. As shown in Figure 1, a V-shaped structure is clearly seen over the SIS FOV. Values of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at the V-shaped structure ($``$ 0.3 keV) are lower than those in the neighboring region. This is consistent with results obtained with the ROSAT PSPC (Decourchelle et al. 1997). There are three high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ regions marked in Figure 7. Such inhomogeneities in the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ distribution cannot be explained by a simple blast wave model. The spatial variation of log($`\tau `$) shows an anti-correlation with that of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$.

### 3.3 Comparison with the FPCS Results

One of the most important purposes of observing the northern region is to compare the results with those of the FPCS (Vedder et al. 1986). The FPCS onboard the Einstein Observatory was the only available data with better energy resolution than ours and had a capability to resolve the triplet of O VII; forbidden (561 eV), inter-combination (569 eV), and resonance (574 eV) lines.

To compare our results with those of the FPCS, we investigated the intensity of individual emission lines. We fitted the spectrum, extracted from the same region as Vedder et al. (1986), with a thermal bremsstrahlung continuum and then added a Gaussian line profile one by one until an acceptable fit was obtained (combination model as mentioned in Miyata et al 1998). Figure 15 shows the best fit curve and the residuals between the data and the model. An acceptable fit was obtained with a model that included 10 Gaussian line profiles. The best fit $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ and line intensity ratio of O VIII to O VII values are $`0.31\pm 0.01`$ keV and $`0.91\pm 0.06`$.

Due to its insufficient energy resolution, the SIS cannot resolve the O VIII K$`\alpha `$ line from the O VII K$`\beta `$ line. We then calculated the line intensity ratio of the sum of O VII K$`\beta `$ and O VIII to O VII based on the Table 1 in Vedder et al. (1986). Thus, the values obtained with the FPCS are $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ 0.3 keV and a line ratio of $`1.5\pm 0.6`$, respectively. The SIS results fully agree with the FPCS results to within the statistical uncertainties. We therefore confirm the consistency between the SIS and the FPCS.

## 4 INTERACTION BETWEEN THE BLAST WAVE AND INTERSTELLAR CLOUD

As mentioned in section 3, a simple blast wave model is able to explain the inhomogeneities neither in the eastern nor in the northern regions. We need to introduce interstellar clouds into the model in order to account for the inhomogeneities. The interaction of the shock wave with the interstellar clouds results in three kinds of shock; a shock traveling around the cloud, a shock transmitted into the cloud (hereafter referred to as the transmission shock), and a shock reflected from the cloud (hereafter referred to as the reflection shock). The nature of the interaction depends on the size and the density of the cloud.

### 4.1 Reflection Shock Model

After the interaction, the reflection shock will propagate toward a direction opposite to the incident shock when the postincident shock flow is supersonic relative to the cloud. We assume radiation can be ignored and that the cloud is spherical. If the density contrast between the cloud and the ambient matter is not high enough to be treated as incompressive, some amount of energy will be released by the transmission shock, propagating into the cloud.

The physical properties of the transmission shock as well as the reflection shock depend on the density contrast, $`\alpha =n_4/n_0`$, where $`n_4`$ is the density of the cloud. Sgro (1975) studied the interaction by considering the density contrast in the assumption of the strong shock limit for the blast wave (Mach number ($`M_0)`$ 6). He solved the fluid equations for the mass, momentum, and energy conservation across the discontinuity between the reflection shock and the transmission shock. The geometry of the interaction is shown in Figure 15. We denote by subscripts 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 the parameters of preshocked gas, postincident shocked gas, postreflected shocked gas, posttransmitted shocked gas, and incident cloud, respectively, as shown in this figure. Across the discontinuity, the pressure is constant, $`p_2=p_3`$. When the postincident shock wave strikes the cloud, it would experience an overpressure relative to the ambient postincident shocked gas by a factor of $`\beta `$.

$$n_3v_3^2=\beta n_1v_1^2$$
(1)
He found the following equations for temperature and velocity, with respect to the contact discontinuity, of both the reflection and transmission shock region as a function of postincident shocked parameters.

$`T_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{\alpha }}T_1`$ (2)
$`T_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{\alpha _r}}T_1`$ (3)
$`v_3`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{\alpha }}}v_1`$ (4)
$`v_2`$ $`=`$ $`\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{15\alpha _r}{4\alpha _r}}\right)^{1/2}\right\}v_1,`$ (5)
where $`\alpha _r`$ is the density contrast between the postincident shocked gas and the postreflected shocked gas, $`n_2/n_1`$, and can be related to $`\alpha `$ through

$$\alpha =\frac{3\alpha _r\left(4\alpha _r1\right)}{[\{3\alpha _r\left(4\alpha _r\right)\}^{1/2}\sqrt{5}\left(\alpha _r1\right)]^2}.$$
(7)
Figure 15 shows the characteristics of the postreflected shocked region as a function of $`\alpha `$. This figure is consistent with Figure 17 of Hester et al. (1994) even though their approach of calculation differs from ours.

### 4.2 Cloud Evaporation Model

When the postincident shock wave strikes the cloud, it would experience an overpressure relative to the ambient postincident shocked gas by a factor of $`\beta `$. Values of temperature and velocity for the transmission shock can be determined by equations (1,2). The time required for the transmission shock to travel through the cloud is $`10^6R_4/v_3`$ yr, where $`R_4`$ is the radius of the cloud in pc and $`v_3`$ is the velocity of the transmission shock in km s-1. By equating the cooling time of the posttransmitted shocked gas to the time required for the transmission shock to travel through the cloud, a critical cloud density, $`n_c`$, is defined. Sgro (1975) calculated $`n_c`$ and the cooling time, $`\tau _c`$, of the posttransmitted shocked gas due to the radiation as

$$n_c10\left(\frac{\beta }{3.2}\right)^{5/7}\left(\frac{R_4}{1\mathrm{pc}}\right)^{2/7}\left(\frac{n_0}{0.5\mathrm{cm}^3}\right)^{5/7}\left(\frac{T_1}{10^7\mathrm{K}}\right)^{5/7}\mathrm{cm}^3,$$
(8)
$$\tau _c=4.6\times 10^6\left(\frac{n_4}{n_0}\right)^3\beta ^2v_1^4\mathrm{yr},$$
(9)
where $`ϵ`$ is the emissivity of thin thermal gas, which is approximately 1.33$`\times 10^{16}T^1`$ ergs cm-3 s-1 in the range of $`10^5T10^7`$ K.

For clouds with density greater than $`n_c`$, the posttransmitted shocked gas cools rapidly and clouds begin to evaporate into a hot tenuous medium. Note that $`\beta `$ depends on the density contrast, $`\alpha `$ = $`n_c`$/$`n_0`$, so that we should pay attention to calculate $`n_c`$.

Figure 15 shows the maximum cloud radius which can be heated up by the blast wave. $`\beta `$ is calculated for each density contrast and $`T_1`$ is fixed to be 0.21 keV. This graph allows us to determine $`n_c`$ for a given $`n_0`$ and $`R_c`$.

After the cloud is surrounded by the tenuous medium, it will be gradually heated up due to thermal conduction. The thermal conductivity of a fully ionized Hydrogen plasma is given by (Spitzer 1962)

$$\kappa =1.94\times 10^{11}\left(\frac{T_e}{10^7\mathrm{K}}\right)^{5/2}\left(\frac{\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }}{30}\right)^1\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{K}^1\mathrm{cm}^1,$$
(10)
where $`\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the Coulomb logarithm which we set to $`\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$=30 since it is insensitive to $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ and density. We set the differences in temperature between the cloud and the surrounding medium to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$, so that the heat flux is

$$q=\kappa \mathrm{\Delta }T.$$
(11)
The heat flux is proportional to $`\lambda `$/$`L_T`$, where $`\lambda `$ is the mean free path for electron energy exchange and $`L_T`$ is the temperature scale height $`T/|\mathrm{\Delta }T|`$. $`\lambda `$ is found from

$`\lambda `$ $`=`$ $`t_{\mathrm{ee}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{3kT_\mathrm{e}}{m_\mathrm{e}}}\right)^{1/2}`$ (12)
$`=`$ $`0.29\left({\displaystyle \frac{T_e}{10^7\mathrm{K}}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{n_e}{1\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}^3}}\right)^1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }}{30}}\right)^1\mathrm{pc}.`$
The classical model of thermal conductivity assumes that the mean free path, $`\lambda `$, is shorter than $`L_T`$, which is a typical cloud size. However, for many situations of interest to our model, the mean free path of electrons is not shorter than the radius of the evaporating cloud. When $`\lambda `$ becomes comparable to or greater than $`L_T`$, the heat flux is no longer equal to $`\kappa \mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{T}`$. This effect is referred to as saturation. Cowie & McKee (1977) studied ‘saturated’ thermal conduction in detail. As to the spherical cloud, the timescale for complete evaporation can be written by (Cowie & McKee 1977)

$$t_{evp}1.8\times 10^4\left(\frac{n_4}{17}\right)\left(\frac{R_4}{1\mathrm{pc}}\right)^2\left(\frac{T_1}{10^7\mathrm{K}}\right)^{5/2}\left(\frac{\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }}{30}\right)\mathrm{yr}.$$
(13)
## 5 SHOCK STRUCTURE OF THE EASTERN REGION

### 5.1 Density of Bright Clump

As shown in Figure 7, we found two soft X-ray bright regions in the eastern region; c1 and c2. Inside c2, we detected low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components at every position (c1 and r1$``$r4). Based on these results, we calculated the density of these regions. We assumed a homogeneous spherical cloud for c2 with a radius of 12′ $``$ 2.7 pc for the low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components. The calculated volumes and densities are summarized in Table 4. If we assumed pressure balance between the low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ and high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components, we could calculate the density and volume for the high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components as shown in Table 4.

The obtained density for the low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component is roughly 30 cm-3 at every portion of the eastern region. The density for the high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component is roughly 5 times higher than that obtained at the NE region as found in MT.

We also calculated the thermal pressure at each region shown in Table 4. HC estimated the thermal pressure at the “XA”to be $`(1.13.8)\times 10^7`$ cm-3 K, which is consistent with our results.

### 5.2 Emission Mechanism of the Eastern Region

Because a simple blast wave model can not explain the inhomogeneities of the eastern region, we investigate emission mechanism models which can hold for the overall X-ray features of the eastern region.

#### 5.2.1 Locally Large Preshock Density

We first consider an inhomogeneous ISM. Specifically, we consider an enhancement of the preshock density. To distinguish it from the interstellar cloud, we assume that the enhanced density is lower than $`n_c`$. In this case, such an enhancement will be smoothed out by the blast wave, resulting in an enhancement of the X-ray emission. This could account for the bright X-ray appearance at the eastern region.

Based on this model, $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of the bright region is expected to be lower than those of neighboring regions. The high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ region can be considered as the postincident shocked region. This means that we can apply a simple blast wave model to the high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ region as a first order approximation. Based on the Sedov model (Sedov 1959), $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ just behind the blast wave is proportional to $`n^{2/5}`$. For the high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components, $`n_\mathrm{e}`$ is roughly 6 cm-3. Assuming the strong shock limit, $`n_0`$ is calculated to be 1.5 cm-3. This value is roughly 6 times higher than that of the NE region (MT). Considering the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ value at the NE region, $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at the eastern region should be $`(1.5/0.25)^{2/5}\times 0.3`$ 0.15 keV. This value is roughly two times lower than that obtained at c2 region as shown in Table 4. Therefore, the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ value obtained for the high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component is too high to be explained using the simple blast wave model.

Thus, it seems difficult to explain the current bright X-ray features as resulting from a shocked region in which the density is higher than that of the neighboring region.

#### 5.2.2 Cloud Evaporation Model

We found region c2 to be bright in soft X-rays. As shown in Table 4, the density of this region is quite high compared with other regions (0.25 cm-3 at the NE region). If we considered c2 as an interstellar cloud, cloud evaporation might play an important role in its high density. Based on the cloud evaporation model, however, high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components are considered as the emission from the postincident shocked region just as the same case of the previous model. Thus, we met with a similar difficulty in trying to explain the X-ray properties by the cloud evaporation model.

We next calculated the cooling time of the posttransmitted shocked gas. For clouds with density greater than $`n_c`$, the posttransmitted shocked gas rapidly cools down to $`10^5`$ K, and there is no X-ray emission. Based on the equation (8), we calculated the maximum cloud thickness, $`R_4`$, to be heated by the transmission shock to emit X-rays. Figure 15 shows the maximum cloud radius plotted as a function of $`\alpha `$ and $`n_0`$. Vertical dashed lines show the permitted area for $`\alpha `$ (inferred in the subsequent subsection) while horizontal solid lines show the permitted area for $`n_0`$. This figure shows that the transmission shock wave will cool down to below the X-ray emitting temperature when it moves into a cloud roughly 0.02$``$3 pc in size. This indicates that the transmission shock can heat up roughly half of c2 for which the radius is roughly 2.7 pc and it cannot pass through c2 since it will cool down to below the X-ray emitting temperature. Therefore, the cloud evaporation model can be ruled out as an explanation for the hard X-ray emitting gas, although it might account for the low-$`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component for future observations.

#### 5.2.3 Reflection and Transmission Shock Model

As described in the previous section, three kinds of shock waves might occur when the blast wave interacts with the cloud. We suppose that the posttransmitted and the postreflected shocked regions correspond to the soft and hard X-ray regions, respectively, in case of the eastern region. The reflection shock propagates into the postincident shocked region and provides an additional heating. The transmission shock propagates into the high density cloud and heats it up to X-ray emitting temperatures if the density contrast between the cloud and the ambient matter is not too high, accounting for the bright X-rays seen in the ROSAT band.

Based on this model, the ratio of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ for the postreflected shocked region to that for the posttransmitted shocked region depends on the density contrast. Based on Figure 15 we calculated the ratio for $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ and $`n_e`$ between the postreflected shocked region and the posttransmitted shocked region, shown in Figure 15. We also plotted our results in Figure 15 for c1 and r1$``$r4. The density contrast, $`\alpha `$, can be determined based both on the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ ratios and the $`n_e`$ ratios as shown in Table 5. We can obtain a consistent value of $`\alpha 10`$ for all regions even though the statistical uncertainties are large for the $`n_e`$ ratios. Therefore, based on the reflection shock model, we can quantitatively explain the observed values of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ for high and low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ components with an interstellar cloud for which the density is roughly an order of magnitude larger than that of the ambient medium.

We can calculate the various physical parameters of the postreflected and posttransmitted shocked region based on Figure 15. Table 5 shows values of $`n_2/n_1`$ (= $`\alpha _\mathrm{r}`$ ) and $`T_2/T_1`$ for each region. Based on these results, $`n_e`$ and $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at the postreflected shocked region is roughly 1.8 and 1.5 times larger than those at the postincident shocked region. Therefore, $`n_\mathrm{e}`$ and $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at the postincident shocked region are $``$ 2.8 cm-3 and $``$ 0.21 keV. This implies that $`n_0`$ at the eastern region is 0.7 cm-3. This value is roughly three times larger than the mean value (Ku et al. 1984). This might be a region of enhanced density, a ‘tail’ of the cloud, extending around c2 as suggested by HC.

If we compare this density with that obtained at the NE region, $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at the eastern region is found to be $`(0.7/0.25)^{2/5}\times 0.3`$ 0.20 keV. This value is in good agreement with our result.

Thus, we conclude that the reflection shock and transmission shock can explain the X-ray properties observed both with ROSAT and with ASCA.

It is interesting to note that the density contrast obtained at the eastern region is consistent with that obtained at the NE region (MT). Combining these results, we suppose the existence of a large-scale high density region from the NE toward the eastern region of the Cygnus Loop.

## 6 SHOCK STRUCTURE OF THE NORTHERN REGION

### 6.1 Complicated X-ray Surface Brightness and $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ Map

The X-ray image of the pos-NN shows a peculiar V-shaped feature, as shown in Figure 7. This V-shaped region is the brightest among the regions with the same radius from the center. The $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ distribution of the pos-NN is not uniform as shown in Figure 7. We found that three regions showed $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ (0.5$``$0.6 keV) higher than other regions (0.3$``$0.4 keV). We refer to these three regions as h1$``$h3 as marked in Figure 7 with green lines. Comparing the surface brightness map with $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ map, we noticed a strong anti-correlation between them.

### 6.2 Emission Mechanism of the Northern Region

We centered our FOV on the brightest part in the northern region which was about 20′ inside the shock front. As mentioned in section 5.2, we expected that the brightest region was roughly 4′ inside the shock front if we assumed the blast wave to be propagating into a homogeneous medium. The apparent structure of the pos-NN is unlikely to be explained by such a simple blast wave model.

As mentioned in the previous section, the pos-NN is the brightest among the regions with the same radius from the center. One of the following two scenarios may explain the emission mechanism; the high density medium may be like an interstellar cloud (evaporation or reflection shock heating) or the shock front structure may be due to a projection effect. In the subsequent section, we will investigate the possible explanation for the current X-ray features observed both with ROSAT and with ASCA.

### 6.3 Shock Front Structures due to the Projection Effect

The mean $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ around the V-shaped region is roughly 0.4 keV. It is similar to that obtained at the NE region (MT). However, the surface brightness is much higher than regions with the same radius in the direction of the NE region. If the V-shaped region comes from the shock front due to a projection effect, the mean density of the pos-NN must be higher assuming the pressure equilibrium. Therefore, we can expect a lower $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ than that of the NE region assuming the pressure equilibrium. However, we found $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ to be similar to each other. We conclude that the bright X-ray appearance does not come from a projection effect of the shock front structures.

### 6.4 Cloud Evaporation Model

We next investigate a cloud evaporation model. After the interstellar cloud is engulfed by the shock wave, it begins to evaporate when the cloud density is higher than the critical density for direct shock heating. The value of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of the shocked cloud ($`kT_3`$) depends on the density contrast between the cloud and the ISM. The value of $`kT_3`$ must be lower than that of the postincident shocked region. Assuming that the cloud is sitting at the center of our FOV, we can expect bright X-ray emission from the cloud. This picture resembles our results at the point of 1) the bright and low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ emission at the center of our FOV and 2) high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ emission at h2 (and possibly h3). Generally speaking, the value of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ decreases toward the shock front where the density is the highest. Therefore, h1 is considered as the postincident shocked region shocked by the blast wave passing over the cloud. We then investigated whether or not we could explain the X-ray feature of h1 by a model that included direct shock heating.

The angular distance from the center of the Cygnus Loop to h1 is roughly 72′. The value of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ obtained at the region with the same radius in the direction of the NE region is roughly 0.4 keV (MT). If such a high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ medium at h1 is the shock heated ISM, we can estimate the density by using the Sedov model. Since $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of the shock wave is proportional to $`n^{2/5}`$, $`n_0`$ of the pos-NN is expected to be $`(0.6/0.4)^{5/2}\times 0.250.09`$ cm-3. The surface brightness of h1 is lower by a factor of $``$ 3 than that of the NE region, which is consistent with the low density derived above. However, based on a similarity solution, the shock radius is proportional to $`n^{1/5}`$. The current location of the shock front passing over the cloud is expected to be (0.25/0.07)$`{}_{}{}^{1/5}`$ 1.3 farther away from the center than that at the NE region. However, it is not the case as shown in Figure 7. Therefore, it seems difficult to explain the current X-ray feature of h1 with the model of shock heating by the incident shock wave.

Therefore, even if we take into account not only a single cloud but also multiple clouds, we expect that the cloud evaporation model would be ruled out to explain the pos-NN.

### 6.5 Reflection Shock Model

We found that neither the direct shock heating model nor the cloud evaporation model could account for the pos-NN of the Cygnus Loop. We next consider the reflection shock heating model.

There are several configurations for the location of the cloud. Among them, we choose two favorable configurations as discussed in the subsequent sections.

#### 6.5.1 Cloud at the Northern Region in Our FOV (h1)

We first examine the case that a cloud exists at h1. We can interpret the structure of the V-shaped region as the postreflected shocked region as shown in Figure 15. Regions of h2 and h3 are expected to be the postincident shocked region. In this case, we expect $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at the V-shaped region to be higher than those of h2 and h3. However, this is not the case. Therefore, this is unlikely to be explained with the reflection shock model.

The value of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of h1 is much higher than those at other regions at the same angular distance from the center. Such high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ is expected in the postreflected shocked region. If a cloud is at h1, we will expect the emission from the cloud itself at h1 either in at soft X-ray or optical wavelengths.

The value of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of the posttransmitted shocked region depends on the density contrast. For a small density contrast, we expect that a low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component is bright in the soft X-ray energy band (ROSAT band). On the contrary, for the case of a high density contrast, $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of the posttransmitted shocked region decreases so that there is no X-ray emission, so that we then expect some optical counterparts to be seen at the position of the cloud. Based on the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ map obtained with the ROSAT all-sky survey (Aschenbach & Leahy 1994), $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at h1 region is higher than those at its neighboring regions. This will deny the existence of the soft X-ray emitting component.

Figure 15 shows the optical image of the pos-NN of the Cygnus Loop which is a digital sky survey image retrieved from the Skyview program, supported by HEASARC/GSFC. There are some optical counterparts seen. However, we find no emission around the h1 region. Therefore, we conclude that there is not a low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component at regions neighboring h1 either in the soft X-ray region or at optical wavelengths.

Thus, this configuration cannot explain either the low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of the V-shaped region or the lack of low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component at h1.

#### 6.5.2 Cloud at the Center of Our FOV

We next consider a cloud at the center of our FOV. After the interaction between the blast wave and the cloud, the blast wave passes over the cloud. The reflection shock propagates into the postincident shocked region while the transmission shock propagates into the cloud. The current geometry we suppose for the pos-NN is schematically shown in Figure 15.

In this configuration, we directly observe the postreflected shocked region with a higher $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ among the neighboring mediums at two different regions. Between these two regions, we observe the overlapping of a postreflected shocked region and a posttransmitted shocked region. Because the density of both regions is high, we expect substantially bright X-ray emission at the overlapping region. The value of $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at the overlapping region is intermediate between the low $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ (k$`T_3`$) the high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ ($`kT_2`$).

If we apply this configuration to our data, we suppose that h1$``$h3 come from the postreflected shocked region as marked by upper and lower broken lines. Between h1 and h2, the bright V-shaped region can be interpreted as the overlapping region. Therefore, we favor this picture since this picture can explain both the high X-ray surface brightness seen at the center of the pos-NN obtained with ROSAT and the $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ distribution determined with the ASCA SIS.

We extracted spectra at h1$``$h3 regions and fitted them with a single component NEI model. However, we failed to fit them with a single component model. As shown in Figure 7 there are still spectral variations in each region, possibly because there are some amount of contamination from the low-$`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component and also the model we proposed is too much simplified. However, we believe the overall plasma structure can be explained with the current configuration.

We estimate other physical parameters based on this model assuming a spherical cloud. The separation between h1 and h2 roughly corresponds to the diameter of the cloud. The cloud is then at ($`\alpha =20^\mathrm{h}49^\mathrm{m}57^\mathrm{s},\delta =32^{}3^{}33^{\prime \prime }`$) with a radius of roughly 7$`{}_{}{}^{}`$ 1.6 pc. The values obtained for $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ at h1$``$h3 are considered as $`T_2`$ whereas that of V-shaped region ($``$ 0.4 keV) stands for the mean value of $`T_2`$ and $`T_3`$. Therefore, we extracted the X-ray spectrum at the V-shaped region and fitted it with a two component NEI model with different $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$. The values obtained for $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ are $``$ 0.2 and $``$ 0.5 keV. The value of the high $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ component agrees reasonably with that obtained at h1$``$h3. Thus, $`T_3`$ can be considered as $``$ 0.2 keV.

The ratio of $`T_2`$ to $`T_3`$ depends on the density contrast as discussed in section 4. Based on Figure 15, we obtain the density contrast $`\alpha `$ to be $``$ 5. The cloud density is estimated to be roughly 1 cm-3 assuming the ambient density of 0.2 cm-3. For $`\alpha =5`$, we obtain $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ of postincident shocked region $`T_1`$ of 0.45 keV and $`\beta `$=2. $`T_1`$ obtained is similar to that of the region with the same angular distance from the center to the direction of the NE region.

Figure 15 shows the maximum radius of the cloud which can be heated up directly by the shock wave, in the $`\alpha T_1`$ plane. The vertical solid line represents the value of $`\alpha `$ at the pos-NN region. As shown in this figure, the cloud with size of $``$ 1.6 pc will be destroyed by the blast wave with $`kT_10.2`$ keV. On the contrary, the value of $`kT_1`$ we obtained is 0.45 keV. Such a cloud cannot survive during passage of the blast wave. Therefore, we can rule out the cloud evaporation model to explain the bright X-ray features seen at pos-NN.

In this way, the reflection shock model can well explain the observed X-ray features with a simple geometry as shown in Figure 15.

## 7 CONCLUSION

We have performed high quality X-ray observations of the Cygnus Loop using the ASCA Observatory and the ROSAT Observatory. We have found that the X-ray surface brightness and $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ significantly vary inside our FOV. They cannot be explained with a simple blast wave model. We carried out calculations for the interaction between the blast wave and the interstellar cloud in order to determine the characteristics of the postincident shocked gas, the posttransmitted shocked gas, and the reflection shocked gas. We applied the evaporation model as well as the reflection (and transmission) shock model for the eastern and the northern regions. We have difficulties explaining the X-ray nature with the evaporation model for both regions. Only the reflection shock model can quantitatively explain the observed $`kT_\mathrm{e}`$ and the X-ray surface brightness.

The cloud size is difficult to estimate. However, it is at least 1 pc in size for both regions. Such a large cloud is sitting in the NE region as well (MT). Combining all of these results, we conclude that a cloud of large scale is covering at least one third of the Cygnus Loop. This fact strongly supports the existence of a pre-existing cavity wall, possibly created by the precursor.

We would like to thank the referee Dr. David Burrows for many useful comments and suggestions for improving the paper. We are grateful to all the other members of the ASCA team. Dr. B. Aschenbach kindly supplied us the whole X-ray image of the Cygnus Loop obtained with the ROSAT all-sky survey. We acknowledge to Mr. C. Baluta for his critical reading of the manuscript. This research is partially supported by ACT-JST Program, Japan Science and Technology Corporation. Part of this research has made use of data obtained through the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center Online Service, provided by the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.