X-ray absorption of cold gas: Simulating interstellar molecular clouds in the laboratory

TL;DR

This study demonstrates a laboratory method to simulate and analyze X-ray absorption by molecular clouds, providing high-resolution spectra that help identify molecular signatures relevant to astrophysics.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel laboratory technique using a Z-pinch X-ray source to mimic interstellar molecular cloud absorption with high spectral resolution.

Findings

Resolved molecular and atomic lines in X-ray spectra.

Measured absorption edges at molecular column densities similar to GMCs.

Found increased excited-state populations with higher gas densities.

Abstract

Galactic and extra-galactic sources produce X-rays that are often absorbed by molecules and atoms in giant molecular clouds (GMCs), which provides valuable information about their composition and physical state. We mimic this phenomenon with a laboratory Z-pinch X-ray source, which is impinged on neutral molecular gas. The novel technique produces a soft X-ray pseudo continuum using a pulsed-current generator. The absorbing gas is injected from a 1 cm long planar gas-puff without any window or vessel along the line of sight. An X-ray spectrometer with a resolving power of $\lambda/\Delta\lambda\sim$420, comparable to that of astrophysical space instruments, records the absorbed spectra. This resolution clearly resolves the molecular lines from the atomic lines; therefore, motivating the search of molecular signature in astrophysical X-ray spectra. The experimental setup enables different gas compositions and column densities. K-shell spectra of CO$_2$, N$_2$ and O$_2$ reveal a plethora of absorption lines and photo-electric edges measured at molecular column densities between $\sim$10$^{16}$ cm$^{-2}$ -- 10$^{18}$ cm$^{-2}$ typical of GMCs. We find that the population of excited-states, contributing to the edge, increases with gas density.