High-Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy of the Interstellar Medium. II. Neon and Iron Absorption Edges

We present high-resolution spectroscopy of the neon K-shell and iron L-shell interstellar absorption edges in nine X-ray binaries using the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. We found that the iron absorption is well fit by an experimental determination of the cross section for metallic iron, although with a slight wavelength shift of ≈20 mA. The neon edge region is best fit by a model that includes the neutral neon edge and three Gaussian absorption lines. We identify these lines as due to the 1s-2p transitions from Ne II, Ne III, and Ne IX. As we found in our oxygen edge study, the theoretical predictions for neutral and low-ionization lines all require shifts of ≈20 mA to match our data. Combined with our earlier oxygen edge study, we find that a best-fit O/Ne ratio of 5.4 ± 1.6, consistent with standard interstellar abundances. Our best-fit Fe/Ne ratio of 0.20 ± 0.03 is significantly lower than the interstellar value. We attribute this difference to iron depletion into dust grains in the interstellar medium. We make the first measurement of the neon ionization fraction in the ISM. We find Ne /Ne ≈ 0.3 and Ne /Ne ≈ 0.07. These values are larger than is expected given the measured ionization of interstellar helium. For Ne IX, our results confirm the detection of the hot ionized interstellar medium of the Galaxy.

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