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DISCRIMINATING THE PROGENITOR TYPE OF SUPERNOVA REMNANTS WITH IRON K-SHELL EMISSION

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal Letters
; ;  [1];  [2]; ;  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]; ;  [7];  [8];
  1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Pittsburgh Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology Center (PITT PACC), University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (United States)
  3. Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)
  4. MIT-Kavli Center for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
  5. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States)
  6. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8510 (Japan)
  7. Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)
  8. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 (Canada)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Supernova remnants (SNRs) retain crucial information about both their parent explosion and circumstellar material left behind by their progenitor. However, the complexity of the interaction between supernova ejecta and ambient medium often blurs this information, and it is not uncommon for the basic progenitor type (Ia or core-collapse) of well-studied remnants to remain uncertain. Here we present a powerful new observational diagnostic to discriminate between progenitor types and constrain the ambient medium density of SNRs using solely Fe K-shell X-ray emission. We analyze all extant Suzaku observations of SNRs and detect Fe Kα emission from 23 young or middle-aged remnants, including five first detections (IC 443, G292.0+1.8, G337.2-0.7, N49, and N63A). The Fe Kα centroids clearly separate progenitor types, with the Fe-rich ejecta in Type Ia remnants being significantly less ionized than in core-collapse SNRs. Within each progenitor group, the Fe Kα luminosity and centroid are well correlated, with more luminous objects having more highly ionized Fe. Our results indicate that there is a strong connection between explosion type and ambient medium density, and suggest that Type Ia supernova progenitors do not substantially modify their surroundings at radii of up to several parsecs. We also detect a K-shell radiative recombination continuum of Fe in W49B and IC 443, implying a strong circumstellar interaction in the early evolutionary phases of these core-collapse remnants.
OSTI ID:
22365330
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 785; ISSN 2041-8205
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ABUNDANCE
GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE
IRON
K SHELL
LUMINOSITY
PHOTON EMISSION
RECOMBINATION
STAR EVOLUTION
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
TYPE I SUPERNOVAE
X RADIATION