When the condition of thermal equlibrium is imposed, then the temperature
is determined as a function of ionization parameter for a photoionized plasma.
Figure 8 shows the ionization and temperature of an optically
thin low density photoionized gas with a
ionizing continuum,
as a function of ionization parameter. This can be compared with
the results of KM82, model 7 (although that model was not optically thin
for log(
)
2). The current model is significantly more
highly ionized; the ionization parameter where the
abundances of O VII and VIII reach their maximum is lower by 0.5 dex in the
current models. The temperature calculated here is lower; this may be due to
a different choice of low and high energy spectral cutoffs which affect the
Compton equilibrium temperature.