July 13, 2006
We report here X-ray imaging spectroscopy observations of the northeastern shell of the supernova remnant RCW 86 with Chandra and XMM-Newton. Along this part of the shell the dominant X-ray radiation mechanism changes from thermal to synchrotron emission. We argue that both the presence of X-ray synchrotron radiation and the width of the synchrotron emitting region suggest a locally higher shock velocity of V_s = 2700 km/s and a magnetic field of B = 24+/-5 microGauss. Moreover, we also show that a simple power law cosmic ray electron spectrum with an exponential cut-off cannot explain the broad band synchrotron emission. Instead a concave electron spectrum is needed, as predicted by non-linear shock acceleration models. Finally, we show that the derived shock velocity strengthens the case that RCW 86 is the remnant of SN 185.
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September 11, 2013
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Supernova remnants may exhibit both thermal and nonthermal X-ray emission. Such remnants can be distinguished by the weakness of their X-ray lines, because of the presence of a strong nonthermal X-ray continuum. RCW 86 is a remnant with weak lines, resulting in low and peculiar abundances when thermal models alone are used to interpret its X-ray spectrum. This indicates the presence of a strong nonthermal synchrotron continuum. We analyze ASCA X-ray spectra of RCW 86 with the...
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Supernova remnants may exhibit both thermal and nonthermal X-ray emission. We present Chandra observations of RCW 86. Striking differences in the morphology of X-rays below 1 keV and above 2 keV point to a different physical origin. Hard X-ray emission is correlated fairly well with the edges of regions of radio emission, suggesting that these are the locations of shock waves at which both short-lived X-ray emitting electrons, and longer-lived radio-emitting electrons, are ac...
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It is an open issue how the surrounding environment of supernova remnant shocks affect nonthermal X-rays from accelerated electrons, with or without interacting dense material. We have conducted spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy of the shock-cloud interacting region of RCW 86 with XMM-Newton. It is found that bright soft X-ray filaments surround the dense cloud observed with 12CO and HI emission lines. These filaments are brighter in thermal X-ray emission, and fainter an...
July 25, 2000
We report the ASCA (Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics) results of RCW 86, a shell-like supernova remnant (SNR). The bright region in the X-ray band traces the radio clumpy shell, although details of the structure are different. The X-ray spectrum from each part of the shell can not be fitted to a thin thermal plasma model, but requires, at least three components: a low temperature plasma of 0.3 keV, high temperature plasma of > several keV, and a power-law com...
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Diffusive shock acceleration by the shockwaves in supernova remnants (SNRs) is widely accepted as the dominant source for Galactic cosmic rays. However, it is unknown what determines the maximum energy of accelerated particles. The surrounding environment could be one of the key parameters. The SNR RCW 86 shows both thermal and non-thermal X-ray emission with different spatial morphologies. These emission originate from the shock-heated plasma and accelerated electrons respec...
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