Magnetic field amplification in the thin X-ray rims of SN 1006

Journal Article · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/790/2/85· OSTI ID:22365538

Ressler, Sean M. ^[1]; Katsuda, Satoru ^[2]; Reynolds, Stephen P. ^[3]; Long, Knox S. ^[4]; Petre, Robert; Williams, Brian J. ^[5]; Winkler, P. Frank ^[6]

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1. Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
2. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan)
3. Physics Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 (United States)
4. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
5. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
6. Department of Physics, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753 (United States)

Several young supernova remnants, including SN 1006, emit synchrotron X-rays in narrow filaments, hereafter thin rims, along their periphery. The widths of these rims imply 50-100 μG fields in the region immediately behind the shock, far larger than expected for the interstellar medium compressed by unmodified shocks, assuming electron radiative losses limit rim widths. However, magnetic field damping could also produce thin rims. Here we review the literature on rim width calculations, summarizing the case for magnetic field amplification. We extend these calculations to include an arbitrary power-law dependence of the diffusion coefficient on energy, D∝E {sup μ}. Loss-limited rim widths should shrink with increasing photon energy, while magnetic-damping models predict widths almost independent of photon energy. We use these results to analyze Chandra observations of SN 1006, in particular the southwest limb. We parameterize the FWHM in terms of energy as FWHM ∝E{sub γ}{sup m{sub E}}. Filament widths in SN 1006 decrease with energy; m{sub E} ∼ –0.3 to –0.8, implying magnetic field amplification by factors of 10-50, above the factor of four expected in strong unmodified shocks. For SN 1006, the rapid shrinkage rules out magnetic damping models. It also favors short mean free paths (small diffusion coefficients) and strong dependence of D on energy (μ ≥ 1).

• OSTI ID: 22365538
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 790; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCELERATION
AMPLIFICATION
DIFFUSION
EMISSION
LOSSES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MEAN FREE PATH
PARTICLES
PHOTONS
RESONANCE IONIZATION MASS SPECTROSCOPY
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
X RADIATION