Recent Suzaku X-ray observations of the ejecta-dominated supernova remnant
W49B have shown that in the global spectrum there is a clear indication for the
presence of overionized plasma whose physical origin is still under debate. In
order to ascertain the physical origin of such a rapidly cooling plasma, we
focus on the study of its spatial localization within the X-ray emitting
ejecta. We confirm the presence of a saw-edged excess (interpreted as a strong
radiative recombination continuum) in the global spectrum above 8 keV, emerging
above the ionization-equilibrium model. We produce a hardness ratio map to
determine where the plasma is overionized and we perform a spectral analysis of
the regions with and without strong overionization. We find that the
overionized plasma is localized in the center of the remnant and in its western
jet, while it is not detected in the bright eastern jet, where the expansion of
the ejecta is hampered by their interaction with a dense interstellar cloud.
The location of overionized plasma suggests that the inner ejecta are rapidly
cooling by expansion, unlike the outer ejecta, for which expansion is hampered
by interstellar clouds seen in H2Comment: Accepted for publication as a Letter in Astronomy and Astrophysics
