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 (ISM) components of the dense,
multiphase, circumnuclear region of a galaxy. We use a model including a
thermal and a 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 OVII forbidden line and
the excess emission in the OVIII Ly$\gamma$ lines -- can be well explained by
the model. Combined with the Chandra images in the OVIII and the OVII bands, we
find the 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 $\sim 0.59$ 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 {\AA} 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.
