THE ROLE OF DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION ON NONEQUILIBRIUM IONIZATION IN SUPERNOVA REMNANTS

We present results of semianalytic calculations which show clear evidence for changes in the nonequilibrium ionization behind a supernova remnant forward shock undergoing efficient diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). The efficient acceleration of particles (i. e., cosmic rays (CRs)) lowers the shock temperature and raises the density of the shocked gas, thus altering the ionization state of the plasma in comparison to the test-particle (TP) approximation where CRs gain an insignificant fraction of the shock energy. The differences between the TP and efficient acceleration cases are substantial and occur for both slow and fast temperature equilibration rates: in cases of higher acceleration efficiency, particular ion states are more populated at lower electron temperatures. We also present results which show that, in the efficient shock acceleration case, higher ionization fractions are reached noticeably closer to the shock front than in the TP case, clearly indicating that DSA may enhance thermal X-ray production. We attribute this to the higher postshock densities which lead to faster electron temperature equilibration and higher ionization rates. These spatial differences should be resolvable with current and future X-ray missions, and can be used as diagnostics in estimating the acceleration efficiency in CR-modified shocks.