Overionization in supernova remnants: a deep look at the SNR IC 443

IC 443 is a Galactic supernova remnant with a peculiar morphology: acenterfilled thermal Xray emission within a radio/optical shell. The presenceof overionized plasma, addressed in previous works, would be a robust clue tothe nature of the centerbright Xrays, which is not yet understood. Our studiesshow significant spectral variations across the remnant, which may lead to thefictitious detection of overionization. We propose a deep observation of thenortheast region in order to obtain a highquality dataset, and perform aspatially resolved spectroscopy of the brightest Xray emission of IC 443. Weaim to decisively address the issue of overionization, and to constrain themechanisms of Xray production from the center of this remnant. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]