230 research outputs found
Balmer-Dominated Shocks Exclude Hot Progenitors for Many Type Ia Supernovae
The evolutionary mechanism underlying Type Ia supernova explosions remains
unknown. Recent efforts to constrain progenitor models based on the influence
that their high energy emission would have on the interstellar medium (ISM) of
galaxies have proven successful. For individual remnants, Balmer-dominated
shocks reveal the ionization state of hydrogen in the immediately surrounding
gas. Here we report deep upper limits on the temperature and luminosity of the
progenitors of four Type Ia remnants with associated Balmer filaments: SN 1006,
0509-67.5, 0519-69.0, and DEM L71. For SN 1006, existing observations of helium
line emission in the diffuse emission ahead of the shock provide an additional
constraint on the helium ionization state in the vicinity of the remnant. Using
the photoionization code Cloudy, we show that these constraints exclude any
hot, luminous progenitor for SN 1006, including stably hydrogen or helium
nuclear-burning white dwarfs, as well as any Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf
accreting matter at yr via a disk. For
0509-67.5, the Balmer emission alone rules out any such white dwarf accreting
yr. For 0519-69.0 and DEM L71, the inferred
ambient ionization state of hydrogen is only weakly in tension with a recently
hot, luminous progenitor, and cannot be distinguished from e.g., a relatively
higher local Lyman continuum background, without additional line measurements.
Future deep spectroscopic observations will resolve this ambiguity, and can
either detect the influence of any luminous progenitor or rule out the same for
all resolved SN Ia remnants.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Ap
No hot and luminous progenitor for Tycho's supernova
Type Ia supernovae have proven vital to our understanding of cosmology, both
as standard candles and for their role in galactic chemical evolution; however,
their origin remains uncertain. The canonical accretion model implies a hot and
luminous progenitor which would ionize the surrounding gas out to a radius of
10--100 parsecs for 100,000 years after the explosion. Here we
report stringent upper limits on the temperature and luminosity of the
progenitor of Tycho's supernova (SN 1572), determined using the remnant itself
as a probe of its environment. Hot, luminous progenitors that would have
produced a greater hydrogen ionization fraction than that measured at the
radius of the present remnant (3 parsecs) can thus be excluded. This
conclusively rules out steadily nuclear-burning white dwarfs (supersoft X-ray
sources), as well as disk emission from a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf
accreting yr (recurrent novae). The lack of a
surrounding Str\"omgren sphere is consistent with the merger of a double white
dwarf binary, although other more exotic scenarios may be possible.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, including supplementary information. Original
accepted manuscript (before copyediting/formatting by Nature Astronomy
[Fe XIV] and [Fe XI] reveal the forward shock in SNR 1E0102.2-7219
Aims. We study the forward shock in the oxygen-rich young supernova remnant
(SNR) 1E0102.2-7219 (1E0102 in short) via optical coronal emission from [Fe
XIV] and [Fe XI]: emission lines which offer an alternative method to X-rays to
do so.
Methods. We have used the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) optical
integral field spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal
to obtain deep observations of SNR 1E0102 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Our
observations cover the entire extent of the remnant with a seeing limited
spatial resolution of 0.7" = 0.2 pc at the distance of 1E 0102.
Results. Our MUSE observations unambiguously reveal the presence of [Fe XIV]
and [Fe XI] emission in 1E0102. The emission largely arises from a thin,
partial ring of filaments surrounding the fast moving O-rich ejecta in the
system. The brightest [Fe XIV] and [Fe XI] emission is found along the eastern
and north-western sides of 1E0102, where shocks are driven into denser ISM
material, while fainter emission along the northern edge reveals the location
of the forward shock in lower density gas, possibly the relic stellar wind
cavity. Modeling of the eastern shocks and the photoionization precursor
surrounding 1E0102, we derive a pre-shock density = (7.4 +-1.5)
cm, and a shock velocity 330 km/s < < 350 km/s.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publications in A&A as a Letter to
the Edito
Spitzer Imaging and Spectral Mapping of the Oxygen-Rich Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8
We present mid-infrared continuum and emission line images of the Galactic
oxygen-rich supernova remnant (SNR) G292.0+1.8, acquired using the MIPS and IRS
instruments on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The MIPS 24 micron and 70 micron
images of G292.0+1.8 are dominated by continuum emission from a network of
filaments encircling the SNR. The morphology of the SNR, as seen in the
mid-infrared, resembles that seen in X-rays with the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Most of the mid-infrared emission in the MIPS images is produced by
circumstellar dust heated in the non-radiative shocks around G292.0+1.8,
confirming the results of earlier mid-IR observations with AKARI. In addition
to emission from hot dust, we have also mapped atomic line emission between 14
micron and 36 micron using IRS spectral maps. The line emission is primarily
associated with the bright oxygen-rich optical knots, but is also detected from
fast-moving knots of ejecta. We confirm our earlier detection of 15-25 micron
emission characteristic of magnesium silicate dust in spectra of the
radiatively shocked ejecta. We do not detect silicon line emission from any of
the radiatively shocked ejecta in the southeast of the SNR, possibly because
that the reverse shock has not yet penetrated most of the Si-rich ejecta in
that region. This may indicate that G292.0+1.8 is less evolved in the southeast
than the rest of the SNR, and may be further evidence in favor of an asymmetric
SN explosion as proposed in recent X-ray studies of G292.0+1.8.Comment: 16 pages, 1 table, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Outer Shock of the Oxygen-Rich Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8: Evidence for the Interaction with the Stellar Winds from its Massive Progenitor
We study the outer-shock structure of the oxygen-rich supernova remnant
G292.0+1.8, using a deep observation with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We
measure radial variations of the electron temperature and emission measure that
we identify as the outer shock propagating into a medium with a radially
decreasing density profile. The inferred ambient density structure is
consistent with models for the circumstellar wind of a massive progenitor star
rather than for a uniform interstellar medium. The estimated wind density n_H =
0.1 ~ 0.3 cm^-3) at the current outer radius (~7.7 pc) of the remnant is
consistent with a slow wind from a red supergiant (RSG) star. The total mass of
the wind is estimated to be ~ 15 - 40 solar mass (depending on the estimated
density range), assuming that the wind extended down to near the surface of the
progenitor. The overall kinematics of G292.0+1.8 are consistent with the
remnant expanding through the RSG wind.Comment: 9 pages (2-column), 5 figures, accepted for Ap
Proper Motions of H-alpha filaments in the Supernova Remnant RCW 86
We present a proper motion study of the eastern shock-region of the supernova
remnant RCW 86 (MSH 14-63, G315.4-2.3), based on optical observations carried
out with VLT/FORS2 in 2007 and 2010. For both the northeastern and southeastern
regions, we measure an average proper motion of H-alpha filaments of 0.10 +/-
0.02 arcsec/yr, corresponding to 1200 +/- 200 km/s at 2.5kpc. There is
substantial variation in the derived proper motions, indicating shock
velocities ranging from just below 700 km/s to above 2200 km/s.
The optical proper motion is lower than the previously measured X-ray proper
motion of northeastern region. The new measurements are consistent with the
previously measured proton temperature of 2.3 +/- 0.3 keV, assuming no
cosmic-ray acceleration. However, within the uncertainties, moderately
efficient (< 27 per cent) shock acceleration is still possible. The combination
of optical proper motion and proton temperature rule out the possibility that
RCW 86 has a distance less than 1.5kpc.
The similarity of the proper motions in the northeast and southeast is
peculiar, given the different densities and X-ray emission properties of the
regions. The northeastern region has lower densities and the X-ray emission is
synchrotron dominated, suggesting that the shock velocities should be higher
than in the southeastern, thermal X-ray dominated, region. A possible solution
is that the H-alpha emitting filaments are biased toward denser regions, with
lower shock velocities. Alternatively, in the northeast the shock velocity may
have decreased rapidly during the past 200yr, and the X-ray synchrotron
emission is an afterglow from a period when the shock velocity was higher.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
A Half-Megasecond Chandra Observation of the Oxygen-Rich Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8
We report on our initial analysis of a deep 510 ks observation of the
Galactic oxygen-rich supernova remnant (SNR) G292.0+1.8 with the {\it Chandra
X-ray Observatory}. Our new {\it Chandra} ACIS-I observation has a larger field
of view and an order of magnitude deeper exposure than the previous {\it
Chandra} observation, which allows us to cover the entire SNR and to detect new
metal-rich ejecta features. We find a highly non-uniform distribution of
thermodynamic conditions of the X-ray emitting hot gas that correlates well
with the optical [O {\small III}] emission, suggesting the possibility that the
originating supernova explosion of G292.0+1.8 was itself asymmetric. We also
reveal spectacular substructures of a torus, a jet, and an extended central
compact nebula all associated with the embedded pulsar J11245916.Comment: 10 pages including 1 table and 2 figures (both figures are color),
accepted by ApJ Letter
An X-ray and Radio Study of the Varying Expansion Velocities in Tycho's Supernova Remnant
We present newly obtained X-ray and radio observations of Tycho's supernova
remnant using {\it Chandra} and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in 2015 and
2013/14, respectively. When combined with earlier epoch observations by these
instruments, we now have time baselines for expansion measurements of the
remnant of 12-15 year in the X-rays and 30 year in the radio. The remnant's
large angular size allows for proper motion measurements at many locations
around the periphery of the blast wave. We find, consistent with earlier
measurements, a clear gradient in the expansion velocity of the remnant,
despite its round shape. The proper motions on the western and southwestern
sides of the remnant are about a factor of two higher than those in the east
and northeast. We showed in an earlier work that this is related to an offset
of the explosion site from the geometric center of the remnant due to a density
gradient in the ISM, and using our refined measurements reported here, we find
that this offset is towards the northeast. An explosion center
offset in such a circular remnant has implications for searches for progenitor
companions in other remnants.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
RCW 86: A Type Ia Supernova in a Wind-Blown Bubble
We report results from a multi-wavelength analysis of the Galactic SNR RCW
86, the proposed remnant of the supernova of 185 A.D. We report new infrared
observations from {\it Spitzer} and {\it WISE}, where the entire shell is
detected at 24 and 22 m. We fit the infrared flux ratios with models of
collisionally heated ambient dust, finding post-shock gas densities in the
non-radiative shocks of 2.4 and 2.0 cm in the SW and NW portions of the
remnant, respectively. The Balmer-dominated shocks around the periphery of the
shell, large amount of iron in the X-ray emitting ejecta, and lack of a compact
remnant support a Type Ia origin for this remnant. From hydrodynamic
simulations, the observed characteristics of RCW 86 are successfully reproduced
by an off-center explosion in a low-density cavity carved by the progenitor
system. This would make RCW 86 the first known case of a Type Ia supernova in a
wind-blown bubble. The fast shocks ( km s) observed in the NE
are propagating in the low-density bubble, where the shock is just beginning to
encounter the shell, while the slower shocks elsewhere have already encountered
the bubble wall. The diffuse nature of the synchrotron emission in the SW and
NW is due to electrons that were accelerated early in the lifetime of the
remnant, when the shock was still in the bubble. Electrons in a bubble could
produce gamma-rays by inverse-Compton scattering. The wind-blown bubble
scenario requires a single-degenerate progenitor, which should leave behind a
companion star.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 50 pages, 9 figure
- …