Spectral Modeling of Charge Exchange in the Central Region of M51

Charge exchange (CX) emission reveals the significant interaction between neutral and ionized interstellar medium components of the dense, multiphase, circumnuclear region of a galaxy. We use a model including a thermal and CX components to describe the high-resolution XMM-Newton/RGS spectrum of the diffuse emission in the central region of M51. Representative signatures of CX emission—especially the prominent O VII forbidden line and the excess emission in the O VIII Lyγ lines—can be explained by the model. Combined with Chandra images in the O VIII and the O VII bands, we find soft X-ray emission is dominated by the jet-driven outflow and its interaction with the ambient neutral material. The jet-driven outflow itself is likely a thermal plasma of ∼0.59 keV, with mostly sub-solar abundances. It runs into the ambient neutral gas, and produces significant CX emission that accounts for one-fifth of the diffuse X-ray emission in the 7-28 Å band. The effective interface area in the CX process is one order of magnitude greater than the geometrical surface area of the jet-driven outflow. The tenuous outflow driven by the nuclear star formation may also contribute a small portion to both the diffuse thermal and CX emission. The photoionization by the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and the resonance scattering by the hot gas itself are disfavored, though the effects from past AGN events may not be ruled out.