Mapping Cassiopeia A’s silicon/sulfur Doppler velocities with XRISM/Resolve

Young supernova remnants (SNRs) provide crucial insights into explosive nucleosynthesis products and their velocity distribution soon after the explosion. However, these velocities are influenced by the dynamics of the circumstellar medium (CSM), which in young core-collapse SNRs originates from the progenitor’s late-phase mass loss. Cassiopeia A (Cas A), the youngest known Galactic core-collapse SNR, was studied to analyze the spatial distribution of silicon and sulfur radial velocities using two high-spectral-resolution observations from the XRISM/Resolve imaging spectrometer. Resolve’s capabilities enabled the detailed characterization of Si xiii, Si xiv, S xv, and S xvi lines, whose line shapes can be resolved and modeled using Gaussian radial velocity components. The radial velocities measured generally align with previous CCD-based results, confirming that they were not artifacts caused by blended lines or ionization variations. Modeling line profiles with two-component Gaussians improved fits in some regions, revealing distinct redshifted (back side) and blueshifted (front side) components only in a few specific areas. In most regions, however, both components were either both redshifted (north-west) or both blueshifted (south-east), consistent with the patchy ejecta shell morphology seen in optically emitting fast-moving knots. The individual line components revealed line broadening ranging from $\sigma _v \approx 200$ to $\sigma _v \approx 2000$ ${\rm km\, s^{-1}}$. Components with $1000 \lesssim \sigma _v \lesssim 2000$ ${\rm km\, s^{-1}}$ are consistent with previously determined reverse-shock velocities, suggesting non-equilibrated or partially equilibrated ion temperatures. Narrow components with small radial velocities found near Cas A’s projected center likely originate from shocked CSM plasma. But the low radial velocity and small $\sigma _v$ poses a challenge to identify these components with either the front side or back side of the SNR, or a blend of both sides.