The X-ray synchrotron emission of RCW 86 and the implications for its age

We present a Chandra and XMM-Newton imaging and spectroscopic study of the supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 103 (G332.4-00.4) containing the Central Compact Object 1E 161348-5055. The high resolution Chandra X-ray images reveal enhanced emission in the south-eastern and north-western regions. Equivalent width line images of Fe L, Mg, Si, and S using XMM-Newton data were used to map the distribution of ejecta. The SNR was sectioned into 56 regions best characterized by two-componen...

We study the electron-proton temperature equilibration behind several shocks of the RCW 86 supernova remnant. To measure the proton temperature, we use published and new optical spectra, all from different locations on the remnant. For each location, we determine the electron temperature from X-ray spectra, and correct for temperature equilibration between the shock front and the location of the X-ray spectrum. We confirm the result of previous studies that the electron and p...

We analyze three Chandra observations, with a combined exposure time of 99 ks, of the Galactic supernova remnant RCW 103, a young supernova remnant, previously with no clear detection of metal-rich ejecta. Based on our imaging and spectral analyses of these deep Chandra data, we find evidence for metal-rich ejecta emission scattered throughout the remnant. X-ray emission from the shocked ejecta is generally weak, and the shocked circumstellar medium (CSM) is a largely dominan...

Recent observations of non-thermal X-rays from supernova remnants have been attributed to synchrotron radiation from the loss-steepened tail of a non-thermal distribution of electrons accelerated at the remnant blast wave. In diffusive shock acceleration, the maximum particle energy depends on the energy-dependence of the diffusion coefficient kappa. Most work on shock acceleration has made the plausible assumption that kappa is proportional to the particle gyroradius, implyi...

G347.3-0.5 is one of three shell-type supernova remnants in the Galaxy whose X-ray spectrum is dominated by nonthermal emission. This puts G347.3-0.5 in the small, but growing class of SNRs for which the X-ray emission reveals directly the presence of extremely energetic electrons accelerated by the SNR shock. We have obtained new high-resolution X-ray and radio data on G347.3-0.5 using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) respectivel...

$\sim$18 yr after the supernova explosion, the blast wave of SNR 1987A is entering the main body of the equatorial circumstellar material, which is causing a dramatic brightening of the remnant. We recently reported the observational evidence for this event from our {\it Chandra} data (Park et al. 2005b; P05 hereafter). We present here the temporal evolution of the X-ray emitting shock parameters and the detailed description of the spectral and image analysis of SNR 1987A, on...

We present a multiwavelength examination of the supernova remnant (SNR) S26 in the nearby galaxy NGC 300 using data from Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Very Large Array, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We simultaneously fit all of the available X-ray data with a thermal plasma model and find a temperature of $0.77 \pm 0.13$ keV with a hydrogen column density of ($9.7^{+6.4}_{-4.8}$)$\times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2...

We report ASCA results of a featureless X-ray spectrum from RX J1713.7-3946, a new shell-like SNR discovered with the ROSAT all sky survey. The northwest part of RX J1713.7-3946 was in the field of the ASCA Galactic Plane Survey Project and was found to exhibit a shell-like structure. The spectrum, however shows neither line emission nor any signature of a thermal origin. Instead, a power-law model with a photon index of 2.4-2.5 gives reasonable fit to the spectrum, suggestin...

We present a detailed morphological study of TeV gamma rays, synchrotron radiation, and interstellar gas in the young Type Ia supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 86. We find that the interstellar atomic gas shows good spatial correlation with the gamma rays, indicating that the TeV gamma rays from RCW 86 are likely to be dominantly of hadronic origin. In contrast, the spatial correlation between the interstellar molecular cloud and the TeV gamma rays is poor in the southeastern shell...

We report XMM-Newton observations of the Galactic supernova remnant G296.8-0.3, together with complementary radio and infrared data. The spatial and spectral properties of the X-ray emission, detected towards G296.8-0.3, was investigated in order to explore the possible evolutionary scenarios and the physical connexion with its unusual morphology detected at radio frequencies. G296.8-0.3 displays diffuse X-ray emission correlated with the peculiar radio morphology detected in...