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Title: A deep Chandra observation of oxygen-rich supernova remnant B0049-73.6 in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
;  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Box 19059, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019 (United States)
  2. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019 (United States)
  4. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of)
  5. Department of Applied Physics, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibana-dai Nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192 (Japan)

We report on the initial results from our deep Chandra observation (450 ks) of O-rich supernova remnant (SNR) B0049-73.6 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We detect small metal-rich ejecta features extending out to the outermost boundary of B0049-73.6, which were not seen in the previous data with a shorter exposure. The central nebula is dominated by emission from reverse-shocked ejecta material enriched in O, Ne, Mg, and Si. O-rich ejecta distribution is relatively smooth throughout the central nebula. In contrast, the Si-rich material is highly structured. These results suggest that B0049-73.6 was produced by an asymmetric core-collapse explosion of a massive star. The estimated abundance ratios among these ejecta elements are in plausible agreement with the nucleosynthesis products from the explosion of a 13-15 M{sub ☉} progenitor. The central ring-like (in projection) ejecta nebula extends to ∼9 pc from the SNR center. This suggests that the contact discontinuity may be located at a further distance from the SNR center than the previous estimate. We estimate the Sedov age of ∼17,000 yr and an explosion energy of E{sub 0} ∼1.7 × 10{sup 51} erg for B0049-73.6. We place a stringent upper limit on the 2-7 keV band luminosity of L{sub X} ∼ 8.5 × 10{sup 31} erg s{sup –1} for the embedded compact stellar remnant at the center of B0049-73.6.

OSTI ID:
22365372
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 791, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English