EWOCS VII : Unveiling the faint diffuse X-ray emission in Westerlund 1

Albacete-Colombo J. F.; Andersen M.; De Becker M.; Mackey J.; Larkin C. J. K.; Guarcello M. G.; Anastasopoulou K.; Sciortino S.; Greco E.; Miceli M.; Sapienza V.; Flaccomio E.; Filócomo A.; Stevens I. A.; Bayo A.; Drake J. J.; Gennaro M.; Gunderson S. J.; Fraschetti F

arXiv · 2608.21076

EWOCS VII : Unveiling the faint diffuse X-ray emission in Westerlund 1

Albacete-Colombo J. F.·Andersen M.·De Becker M.·Mackey J.·Larkin C. J. K.·Guarcello M. G.·Anastasopoulou K.·Sciortino S.·Greco E.·Miceli M.·Sapienza V.·Flaccomio E.·Filócomo A.·Stevens I. A.·Bayo A.·Drake J. J.·Gennaro M.·Gunderson S. J.·Fraschetti F

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Abstract

Westerlund 1 (Wd 1) is the closest supermassive star cluster to the Sun, with over 100,000 stars of all spectral types down to brown dwarfs. This population strongly heats the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM), making Wd 1 a key site to study stellar feedback on intracluster gas. We present the most detailed X-ray study to date of its diffuse emission, aiming to separate and quantify the point-source contribution to the true diffuse emission. We analysed 36 Chandra ACIS-I observations within an 8x8 arcmin window. After removing 4922 point sources with ACIS Extract using energy-dependent PSF models and adaptive 99% enclosed-energy masks, we subtracted PSF-wing contamination and corrected for background, then applied adaptive smoothing in soft, medium, and hard bands. Spectral fitting suggests a shocked thermal plasma, with diffuse X-rays correlating spatially with massive stars. The core (Region #2) fits an APEC+PSHOCK model, with temperatures of 1.81+/-0.24 and 4.11+/-1.98 keV and a 6.7 keV Fe K-alpha line. The outer Region #1 shows charge-exchange emission, fitting a CXE+NEI model with softer temperatures of 0.27+/-0.04 and 1.09+/-0.05 keV. Column densities range from 1.84-2.24x10^22 cm^-2, and the total (0.5-8.0 keV) diffuse luminosity is ~9.6(+/-0.3)x10^33 erg/s. Near the core, hard emission likely arises from thermalised Wolf-Rayet winds and wind-wind collisions, softened by adiabatic expansion and turbulent mixing with cooler ISM. The soft component extends farther out, possibly from CXE in lower-extinction regions. No non-thermal contribution is found. A cluster-wind model predicts a luminosity ~2.2 above that observed, consistent with a low-density, partially evacuated intracluster medium. The resulting wind-to-X-ray efficiency, eta ~4.3x10^-6, is about two orders of magnitude below Cygnus OB2, yielding comparatively subluminous diffuse X-ray emission.

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Albacete-Colombo J. F., Andersen M., De Becker M., Mackey J., Larkin C. J. K., Guarcello M. G., Anastasopoulou K., Sciortino S., Greco E., Miceli M., Sapienza V., Flaccomio E., Filócomo A., Stevens I. A., Bayo A., Drake J. J., Gennaro M., Gunderson S. J., Fraschetti F. 2026-08-21. EWOCS VII : Unveiling the faint diffuse X-ray emission in Westerlund 1. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.21076

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