Asymmetry is required by most numerical simulations of stellar core-collapse explosions, but the form it takes differs significantly among models. The spatial distribution of radioactive (44)Ti, synthesized in an exploding star near the boundary between material falling back onto the collapsing core and that ejected into the surrounding medium, directly probes the explosion asymmetries. Cassiopeia A is a young, nearby, core-collapse remnant from which (44)Ti emission has previously been detected but not imaged. Asymmetries in the explosion have been indirectly inferred from a high ratio of observed (44)Ti emission to estimated (56)Ni emission, from optical light echoes, and from jet-like features seen in the X-ray and optical ejecta. Here we report spatial maps and spectral properties of the (44)Ti in Cassiopeia A. This may explain the unexpected lack of correlation between the (44)Ti and iron X-ray emission, the latter being visible only in shock-heated material. The observed spatial distribution rules out symmetric explosions even with a high level of convective mixing, as well as highly asymmetric bipolar explosions resulting from a fast-rotating progenitor. Instead, these observations provide strong evidence for the development of low-mode convective instabilities in core-collapse supernovae.

We present a NuSTAR, Chandra, and XMM-Newton survey of nine of the nearest ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). The unprecedented sensitivity of NuSTAR at energies above 10 keV enables spectral modeling with far better precision than was previously possible. Six of the nine sources observed were detected sufficiently well by NuSTAR to model in detail their broadband Xray spectra, and recover the levels of obscuration and intrinsic X-ray luminosities. Only one source (IRAS 13120-5453) has a spectrum consistent with a Compton-thick AGN, but we cannot rule out that a second source (Arp 220) harbors an extremely highly obscured AGN as well. Variability in column density (reduction by a factor of a few compared to older observations) is seen in IRAS 05189-2524 and Mrk 273, altering the classification of these border-line sources from Compton-thick to Comptonthin. The ULIRGs in our sample have surprisingly low observed fluxes in high energy (>10 keV) X-rays, especially compared to their bolometric luminosities. They have lower ratios of unabsorbed 2-10 keV to bolometric luminosity, and unabsorbed 2-10 keV to mid-IR [O IV] line luminosity than do Seyfert 1 galaxies. We identify IRAS 08572+3915 as another candidate intrinsically X-ray weak source, similar to Mrk 231. We speculate that the X-ray weakness of IRAS 08572+3915 is related to its powerful outflow observed at other wavelengths.

We present the first high-energy X-ray (>10 keV) observations of the non-thermal filament G359.97-0.038 using the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). This filament is one of approximately 20 X-ray filaments of unknown origin located in the central 20 pc region in the Galactic Center near Sgr A*. Its NuSTAR and Chandra broadband spectrum is characterized by a single power law with Γ = 1.3 ± 0.3 that extends from 2 to 50 keV, with an unabsorbed luminosity of 1.3 × 10 33 erg s −1 (d/8 kpc) 2 in the 2-8 keV band. Despite possessing a cometary X-ray morphology that is typical of a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) in high-resolution Chandra imaging, our spatially resolved Chandra spectral analysis found no significant spectral softening along the filament as would be expected from particle synchrotron cooling. Coincident radio emission is detected using the Very Large Array at 5.5 and 8.3 GHz. We examine and subsequently discard a PWN or magnetic flux tube as the origin of G359.97-0.038. We use broadband spectral characteristics and a morphological analysis to show that G359.97-0.038 is likely an interaction site between the shell of Sgr A East and an adjacent molecular cloud. This is supported by CS molecular line spectroscopy and the presence of an OH maser.