A DEEP CHANDRA OBSERVATION OF THE OXYGEN-RICH SUPERNOVA REMNANT 0540-69.3 IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD

Journal Article · Sat Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/710/2/948· OSTI ID:21394467

Park, Sangwook; Burrows, David N ^[1]; Hughes, John P ^[2]; Slane, Patrick O ^[3]; Mori, Koji ^[4]

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1. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019 (United States)
3. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
4. Department of Applied Physics, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibana-dai Nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192 (Japan)

Using our deep {approx}120 ks Chandra observation, we report on the results from our spatially resolved X-ray spectral analysis of the 'oxygen-rich' supernova remnant (SNR) 0540-69.3 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We conclusively establish the nonthermal nature of the 'arcs' in the east and west boundaries of the SNR, which confirms the cosmic-ray electron acceleration in the supernova shock (B {approx} 20-140 {mu}G). We report tentative evidence for Fe overabundance in the southern region close to the outer boundary of the SNR. While such a detection would be intriguing, the existence of Fe ejecta is not conclusive with the current data because of poor photon statistics and limited plasma models. If it is verified using deeper X-ray observations and improved plasma models, the presence of Fe ejecta, which was produced in the core of the supernova, near the SNR's outer boundary would provide an intriguing opportunity to study the explosive nucleosynthesis and the ejecta mixing in this young core-collapse SNR. There is no evidence of X-ray counterparts for the optical O-rich ejecta in the central regions of the SNR.

• OSTI ID: 21394467
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 710, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/710/2/948; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ABUNDANCE
COSMIC RADIATION
ELECTRONS
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
OXYGEN
PHOTONS
PLASMA
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
X RADIATION
BOSONS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FERMIONS
GALAXIES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
NONMETALS
RADIATIONS
SYNTHESIS