A Chandrasekhar mass progenitor for the Type Ia supernova remnant 3C 397 from the enhanced abundances of nickel and manganese
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Univ. Politecnica de Catalunya, Sant Cugat del Valles (Spain)
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
- Kyoto Univ., Kyoto (Japan); Univ. of Tokyo, Chiba (Japan)
- Univ. Kitashirakawa-oiwake-cho, Kyoto (Japan)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Univ. Kitashirakawa-oiwake-cho, Kyoto (Japan); Osaka Univ., Osaka (Japan)
Despite decades of intense efforts, many fundamental aspects of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) remain elusive. One of the major open questions is whether the mass of an exploding white dwarf (WD) is close to the Chandrasekhar limit. Here, we report the detection of strong K-shell emission from stable Fe-peak elements in the Suzaku X-ray spectrum of the Type Ia supernova remnant (SNR) 3C 397. The high Ni/Fe and Mn/Fe mass ratios (0.11–0.24 and 0.018–0.033, respectively) in the hot plasma component that dominates the K-shell emission lines indicate a degree of neutronization in the supernova ejecta that can only be achieved by electron capture in the dense cores of exploding WDs with a near-Chandrasekhar mass. This suggests a single-degenerate origin for 3C 397, since Chandrasekhar mass progenitors are expected naturally if the WD accretes mass slowly from a companion. Altogether with other results supporting the double-degenerate scenario, our work adds to the mounting evidence that both progenitor channels make a significant contribution to the SN Ia rate in star-forming galaxies.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1240422
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-14-29193
- Journal Information:
- The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Vol. 801, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8213
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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