XMM-Newton RGS Spectroscopy of the M31 Bulge. I. Evidence for a Past AGN Half a Million Years Ago

Existing analysis based on spectra from the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) on board XMM-Newton already shows that the G-ratio of the O vii He α triplet in the inner bulge of M31 is too high to be consistent with a pure optically thin thermal plasma in collisional ionization equilibrium (CI…