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 $\gtrsim 9.5\times10^{-8}M_{\odot}/$yr via a disk. For 0509-67.5, the Balmer emission alone rules out any such white dwarf accreting $\gtrsim 1.4\times10^{-8}M_{\odot}/$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 $\sim$10--100 parsecs for $\sim$100,000 years after the explosion. Here we report stringent upper limits on the temperature and luminosity of the progenitor of Tycho's supernova (SN 1572), determined using the remnant itself as a probe of its environment. Hot, luminous progenitors that would have produced a greater hydrogen ionization fraction than that measured at the radius of the present remnant ($\sim$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 $\gtrsim 10^{-8}M_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$ (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 $n_H$ = (7.4 +-1.5) cm$^{-3}$, and a shock velocity 330 km/s < $v_s$ < 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

SPITZER observations of dust destruction in the Puppis A supernova remnant

The interaction of the Puppis A supernova remnant (SNR) with a neighboring molecular cloud provides a unique opportunity to measure the amount of grain destruction in an SNR shock. Spitzer Space Telescope MIPS imaging of the entire SNR at 24, 70, and 160 μm shows an extremely good correlation with X-ray emission, indicating that the SNR’s IR radiation is dominated by the thermal emission of swept-up interstellar dust, collisionally heated by the hot shocked gas. Spitzer IRS spectral observations targeted both the Bright Eastern Knot (BEK) of the SNR where a small cloud has been engulfed by the supernova blast wave and outlying portions of the associated molecular cloud that are yet to be hit by the shock front. Modeling the spectra from both regions reveals the composition and the grain size distribution of the interstellar dust, both in front of and behind the SNR shock front. The comparison shows that the ubiquitous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of the interstellar medium are destroyed within the BEK, along with nearly 25% of the mass of graphite and silicate dust grains