6 pages, 4 PostScript figures. Accepted by Ap&SpSci. (Invited review at HEDLA2010, 8th International Conference on High Energy-Density Laboratory Astrophysics)
It has been known for over 50 years that the radio emission from shell supernova remnants (SNRs) indicates the presence of electrons with energies in the GeV range emitting synchrotron radiation. The discovery of nonthermal X-ray emission from supernova remnants is now 30 years old, and its interpretation as the extension of the radio synchrotron spectrum requires electrons with energies of up to 100 TeV. SNRs are now detected at GeV and TeV photon energies as well. Strong suggestions of the presence of energetic ions exist, but conclusive evidence remains elusive. Several arguments suggest that magnetic fields in SNRs are amplified by orders of magnitude from their values in the ambient interstellar medium. Supernova remnants are thus an excellent laboratory in which to study processes taking place in very high Mach-number shocks. I review the observations of high-energy emission from SNRs, and the theoretical framework in which those observations are interpreted.
The debate on the nature of the gamma-ray emission from young supernova remnants is still open. Ascribing such emission to hadronic rather than leptonic processes would provide an evidence for the acceleration of protons and nuclei, and this fact would fit with the very popular (but not proven) paradigm that supernova remnants are the sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Here, we discuss this issue with a particular focus on the best studied gamma-ray-bright supernova remnant: RX~J1713.7-3946.
Recent progress in numerical simulations of thermonuclear supernova explosions brings up a unique opportunity in studying the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae. Coupling state-of-the-art explosion models with detailed hydrodynamical simulations of the supernova remnant evolution and the most up-to-date atomic data for X-ray emission calculations makes it possible to create realistic synthetic X-ray spectra for the supernova remnant phase. Comparing such spectra with high quality observations of supernova remnants could allow to constrain the explosion mechanism and the progenitor of the supern…
We present numerical models for supernova remnant evolution, using a new version of the hydrodynamical code SUPREMNA. We added cosmic ray diffusion equation to the code scheme, employing two-fluid approximation. We investigate the dynamics of the simulated supernova remnants with different values of cosmic ray acceleration efficiency and diffusion coefficient. We compare the numerical models with observational data of Tycho's and SN1006 supernova remnants. We find models which reproduce the observed locations of the blast wave, contact discontinuity, and reverse shock for the both remnants, th…
Usual supernova remnants have either ionizing plasma or plasma in collisional ionization equilibrium, i.e., the ionization temperature is lower than or equal to the electron temperature. However, the existence of recombining supernova remnants, i.e., supernova remnants with the ionization temperature higher than the electron temperature, is recently confirmed. One suggested way to have recombining plasma in a supernova remnant is to have a dense circumstellar medium at the time of the supernova explosion. If the circumstellar medium is dense enough, collisional ionization equilibrium can be es…
We review the main observational and theoretical facts about acceleration of Galactic cosmic rays in supernova remnants, discussing the arguments in favor and against a connection between cosmic rays and supernova remnants, the so-called supernova remnant paradigm for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays. Recent developments in the modeling of the mechanism of diffusive shock acceleration are discussed, with emphasis on the role of 1) magnetic field amplification, 2) acceleration of nuclei heavier than hydrogen, 3) presence of neutrals in the circumstellar environment. The status of the supernov…
We review the class of galactic supernova remnants which show strong interactions with molecular clouds, revealed through shock-excited hydroxyl masers. These remnants are preferentially found among the known GeV and TeV detections of supernova remnants. It has been argued that the masers trace out the sites of hadronic particle acceleration. We discuss what is known about the physical conditions of these shocked regions and we introduce a potential new maser tracer for identifying the sites of cosmic ray acceleration. This review includes a reasonably complete bibliography for researchers new…
Supernova remnants are beautiful astronomical objects that are also of high scientific interest, because they provide insights into supernova explosion mechanisms, and because they are the likely sources of Galactic cosmic rays. X-ray observations are an important means to study these objects.And in particular the advances made in X-ray imaging spectroscopy over the last two decades has greatly increased our knowledge about supernova remnants. It has made it possible to map the products of fresh nucleosynthesis, and resulted in the identification of regions near shock fronts that emit X-ray sy…
Galactic cosmic rays are believed to be accelerated at supernova remnant shocks. Gamma-ray observations of both supernova remnants and associated molecular clouds have been used in several occasions to test (so far quite successfully) this popular hypothesis. Despite that, a conclusive solution to the problem of cosmic ray origin is still missing, and further observational and theoretical efforts are needed. In this paper, the current status of these investigations is briefly reviewed.
Many aspects of the progenitor systems, environments, and explosion dynamics of the various subtypes of supernovae are difficult to investigate at extragalactic distances where they are observed as unresolved sources. Alternatively, young supernova remnants in our own galaxy and in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds offer opportunities to resolve, measure, and track expanding stellar ejecta in fine detail, but the handful that are known exhibit widely different properties that reflect the diversity of their parent explosions and local circumstellar and interstellar environments. A way of co…
The well-established Type Ia remnant of Tycho's supernova (SN 1572) reveals discrepant ambient medium density estimates based on either the measured dynamics or on the X-ray emission properties. This discrepancy can potentially be solved by assuming that the supernova remnant (SNR) shock initially moved through a stellar wind bubble, but is currently evolving in the uniform interstellar medium with a relatively low density. We investigate this scenario by combining hydrodynamical simulations of the wind-loss phase and the supernova remnant evolution with a coupled X-ray emission model, which i…
The emission of supernova remnants reflects the properties of both the progenitor supernovae and the surrounding environment. The complex morphology of the remnants, however, hampers the disentanglement of the two contributions. Here we aim at identifying the imprint of SN 1987A on the X-ray emission of its remnant and at constraining the structure of the environment surrounding the supernova. We performed high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations describing SN 1987A soon after the core-collapse and the following three-dimensional expansion of its remnant between days 1 and 15000 after the supe…
Supernova remnants are often presented as the most probable sources of Galactic cosmic rays. This idea is supported by the accumulation of evidence that particle acceleration is happening at supernova remnant shocks. Observations in the TeV range have especially contributed to increase the understanding of the mechanisms, but many aspects of the particle acceleration at supernova remnant shocks are still debated. The Cherenkov telescope array is expected to lead to the detection of many new supernova remnants in the TeV and multi-TeV range. In addition to the individual study of each, the stud…
Supernova remnants are believed to be the sources of galactic cosmic rays. Within this framework, diffusive shock acceleration must operate in these objects and accelerate protons all the way up to PeV energies. To do so, significant amplification of the magnetic field at the shock is required. The goal of this paper is to investigate the capability of supernova remnants to accelerate PeV protons. We present analytic estimates of the maximum energy of accelerated protons under various assumptions about the field amplification at supernova remnant shocks. We show that acceleration up to PeV ene…
Expressions for surface brightness distribution and for flux density have been theoretically derived in the case of two simple models of a shell supernova remnant. The models are: a homogenous optically thin emitting shell with constant emissivity and a synchrotron shell source with radial magnetic field. Interactive Data Language (IDL) codes for fitting theoretically derived emission profiles assuming these two models to mean profiles of shell supernova remnants obtained from radio observations have been written.
The gamma-ray observations of molecular clouds associated with supernova remnants are considered one of the most promising ways to search for a solution of the problem of cosmic ray origin. Here we briefly review the status of the field, with particular emphasis on the theoretical and phenomenological aspects of the problem.
Galactic cosmic rays are believed to be accelerated at supernova remnants via diffusive shock acceleration. Though this mechanism gives fairly robust predictions for the spectrum of particles accelerated at the shock, the spectrum of the cosmic rays which are eventually injected in the interstellar medium is more uncertain and depends on the details of the process of particle escape from the shock. Knowing the spectral shape of these escaping particles is of crucial importance in order to assess the validity of the supernova remnant paradigm for cosmic ray origin. Moreover, after escaping from…
Diffusive shock acceleration is considered as the main mechanism for particle energization in supernova remnants, as well as in other classes of sources. The existence of some remnants that show a bilateral morphology in the X-rays and gamma rays suggests that this process occurs with an efficiency that depends upon the inclination angle between the shock normal and the large scale magnetic field in which the shock propagates. This interpretation is additionally supported by recent particle-in-cell simulations that show how ions are not injected if the shock is more oblique than $\sim 45^{o}$.…
Recent high energy gamma-ray observations of both single supernova remnants and superbubbles, together with observations of supernovae, star formation regions, and local cosmic ray composition, now provide an integrated framework tying together the sources, injection, acceleration and propagation of the cosmic rays, so that it is possible to determine their relative contributions to cosmic ray acceleration for all but the very highest energies.
A revised catalogue of 294 Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) is presented, along with some simple statistics. This catalogue has twenty more entries than did the previous version (from 2009), as 21 new remnants have been added, and one object has been removed as it has been identified as an HII region.
Energy released when the core of a high-mass star collapses into a black hole often powers an explosion that creates a supernova remnant. Black holes have limited windows of observability, and consequently are rarely identified in association with supernova remnants. Analysing multi-messenger data, we show that MAXI J1535-571 is the black hole produced in the stellar explosion that gave rise to the supernova remnant G323.7-1.0, making it the first case of an association between a black hole low-mass X-ray binary and a supernova remnant. Given this connection, we can infer from our modelling th…
The remnants of Type Ia supernovae can provide important clues about their progenitor-histories. We discuss two well-observed supernova remnants (SNRs) that are believed to result from a Type Ia SN and use various tools to shed light on the possible progenitor history. We find that Kepler's SNR is consistent with a symbiotic binary progenitor consisted of a white dwarf and an AGB star. Our hydrosimulations can reproduce the observed kinematic and morphological properties. For Tycho's remnant we use the characteristics of the X-ray spectrum and the kinematics to show that the ejecta has likely …
Supernovae shape the interstellar medium, chemically enrich their host galaxies, and generate powerful interstellar shocks that drive future generations of star formation. The shock produced by a supernova event acts as a type of time machine, probing the mass loss history of the progenitor system back to ages of $\sim$ 10 000 years before the explosion, whereas supernova remnants probe a much earlier stage of stellar evolution, interacting with material expelled during the progenitor's much earlier evolution. In this chapter we will review how observations of supernova remnants allow us to in…
We explore electron pre-acceleration at high Mach-number nonrelativistic perpendicular shocks at, e.g., young supernova remnants, which are a prerequisite of further acceleration to very high energies via diffusive shock acceleration. Using fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of shocks and electron dynamics in them, we investigate the influence of shock-surfing acceleration at the shock foot on the nonthermal population of electrons downstream of the shock. The shock-surfing acceleration is followed by further energization at the shock ramp where the Weibel instability spawns a type of …
We report the discovery of a new high mass X-ray binary pulsar, XMMU J050722.1-684758, possibly associated with the supernova remnant MCSNR J0507-6847 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using XMM-Newton X-ray observations. Pulsations with a periodicity of 570 s are discovered from the Be X-ray binary XMMU J050722.1-684758 confirming its nature as a HMXB pulsar. The HMXB is located near the geometric centre of the supernova remnant MCSNR J0507-6847 (0.9 arcmin from the centre) which supports the XRB-SNR association. The estimated age of the supernova remnant is 43-63 kyr which points to a middle ag…
The supernova remnant hypothesis for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays has passed several tests, but the firm identification of a supernova remnant pevatron, considered to be a decisive step to prove the hypothesis, is still missing. While a lot of hope has been placed in next-generation instruments operating in the multi-TeV range, it is possible that current gamma-ray instruments, operating in the TeV range, could pinpoint these objects or, most likely, identify a number of promising targets for instruments of next generation. Starting from the assumption that supernova remnants are indeed …
We report Swift/BAT survey observations of the Tycho's supernova remnant, performed over a period of 104 months since the mission's launch. The remnant is detected with high significance (>10 sigma) below 50 keV. We detect significant hard X-ray emission in the 60-85 keV band, above the continuum level predicted by a simple synchrotron model. The location of the observed excess is consistent with line emission from radioactive Titanium-44, so far reported only for Type II supernova explosions. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of the galactic supernova rate, and nucle…
After almost three years of data taking in sky survey mode, the \emph{Fermi}-LAT has detected $γ$-ray emission toward the Tycho's Supernova Remnant (SNR). The Tycho SNR is among the youngest remnants in the Galaxy, originating from a Type Ia Supernova in AD 1572. The $γ$-ray integral flux from 400 MeV up to 100 GeV has been measured to be (3.5$\pm1.1_{stat}\pm0.7_{syst}$)$\times10^{-9}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ with a photon index of 2.3$\pm0.2_{stat}\pm0.1_{syst}$.
Particle acceleration to suprathermal energies in strong astrophysical shock waves is a widespread phenomenon, generally explained by diffusive shock acceleration. Such shocks can also amplify upstream magnetic field considerably beyond simple compression. The complex plasma physics processes involved are often parameterized by assuming that shocks put some fraction $ε_e$ of their energy into fast particles, and another fraction $ε_B$ into magnetic field. Modelers of shocks in supernovae, supernova remnants, and gamma-ray bursters, among other locations, often assume typical values for these f…
There are either a near kinematic distance of 5.5 kpc or a far distance of 8.8 kpc for a Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G32.8$-$0.1 derived by using the rotation curve of the Galaxy. Here we make sure that the remnant distance is the farther one 8.8 kpc through solving a group of equations for the shell-type remnants separately at the adiabatic-phase and the radiative-phase. For SNR G346.6$-$0.2 we determine its distance also the farther one 11 kpc rather than the nearer one 5.5 kpc.
We outline the main features of nuclei acceleration at supernova remnant forward shocks, stressing the crucial role played by self-amplified magnetic fields in determining the energy spectrum observed in this class of sources. In particular, we show how the standard predictions of the non-linear theory of diffusive shock acceleration has to be completed with an additional ingredient, which we propose to be the enhanced velocity of the magnetic irregularities particles scatter against, to reconcile the theory of efficient particle acceleration with recent observations of gamma-ray bright supern…
We report on sensitive 1.4-GHz VLBI radio observations of the unusually luminous supernova remnant SNR 4449-1 in the galaxy NGC 4449, which gave us the first well-resolved image of this object. The remnant's radio morphology consists of two approximately parallel bright ridges, suggesting similarities to the barrel shape seen for many older Galactic supernova remnants or possibly to SN 1987A. The angular extent of the remnant is 65 x 40 mas, corresponding to (3.7 x 2.3) x 10^{18} (D/3.8 Mpc) cm. We also present a new, high signal-to-noise optical spectrum. By comparing the remnant's linear siz…
Supernova remnant (SNR) G309.2-0.6 has a peculiar radio morphology with two bright ears to the southwest and northeast, although the main shell outside the ears is roughly circular. Based on an earlier proposal that the supernova ejecta has a jet component with extra energy, the dynamical evolution of the remnant is solved using 3D hydrodynamical (HD) simulation to investigate the formation of the periphery of the remnant. Assuming the ejecta with a kinetic energy of $10^{51}$\,erg and a mass of $3~\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ evolved in a uniform ambient medium for a time of $\sim 4000$\,yr and the je…
There is now substantial evidence that the progenitors of some core-collapse supernovae undergo enhanced or extreme mass loss prior to explosion. The imprint of this mass loss is observed in the spectra and dynamics of the expanding blastwave on timescales of days to years after core-collapse, and the effects on the spectral and dynamical evolution may linger long after the supernova has evolved into the remnant stage. In this paper, we present for the first time, largely self-consistent end-to-end simulations for the evolution of a massive star from the pre-main sequence, up to and through co…
We study cosmic-ray acceleration in young Type Ia Supernova Remnants (SNRs) by means of test-particle diffusive shock acceleration theory and 1-D hydrodynamical simulations of their evolution. In addition to acceleration at the forward shock, we explore the particle acceleration at the reverse shock in the presence of a possible substantial magnetic field, and consequently the impact of this acceleration on the particle spectra in the remnant. We investigate the time evolution of the spectra for various time-dependent profiles of the magnetic field in the shocked region of the remnant. We test…
It is widely believe that galactic cosmic rays are originated in supernova remnants (SNRs) where they are accelerated by diffusive shock acceleration process at supernova blast waves driven by expanding SNRs. In recent theoretical developments of the diffusive shock acceleration theory in SNRs, protons are expected to accelerate in SNRs at least up to the knee energy. If SNRs are true generator of cosmic rays, they should accelerate not only protons but also heavier nuclei with right proportion and the maximum energy of heavier nuclei should be atomic mass (Z) times that of protons. In this wo…
We model strong forward shocks in young supernova remnants with efficient particle acceleration where a nonresonant instability driven by the cosmic ray current amplifies magnetic turbulence in the shock precursor. Particle injection, magnetic field amplification (MFA) and the nonlinear feedback of particles and fields on the bulk flow are derived consistently. The shock structure depends critically on the efficiency of turbulence cascading. If cascading is suppressed, MFA is strong, the shock precursor is stratified, and the turbulence spectrum contains several discrete peaks. These peaks, as…
Understanding the evolution of a supernova remnant shell in time is fundamental. Such understanding is critical to build reliable models of the dynamics of the supernova remnant shell interaction with any pulsar wind nebula it might contain. Here, we perform a large study of the parameter space for the one-dimensional spherically symmetric evolution of a supernova remnant, accompanying it by analytical analysis. Assuming, as is usual, an ejecta density profile with a power-law core and an envelope, and a uniform ambient medium, we provide a set of highly-accurate approximations for the evoluti…
Galactic cosmic rays are believed to be accelerated at supernova remnant shocks. Though very popular and robust, this conjecture still needs a conclusive proof. The strongest support to this idea is probably the fact that supernova remnants are observed in gamma-rays, which are indeed expected as the result of the hadronic interactions between the cosmic rays accelerated at the shock and the ambient gas. However, also leptonic processes can, in most cases, explain the observed gamma-ray emission. This implies that the detections in gamma rays do not necessarily mean that supernova remnants acc…
A Chandra observation of the Large Magellanic Cloud supernova remnant DEM L241 reveals an interior unresolved source which is probably an accretion-powered binary. The optical counterpart is an O5III(f) star making this a High-Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB) with orbital period likely to be of order tens of days. Emission from the remnant interior is thermal and spectral information is used to derive density and mass of the hot material. Elongation of the remnant is unusual and possible causes of this are discussed. The precursor star probably had mass > 25 solar masses
We discuss in this Letter the association of the candidate magnetar CXOU J171405.7-381031 with the supernova remnant CTB 37B. The recent detection of the period derivative of the object allowed an estimation of a young characteristic age of only $\sim 1000 yr$. This value is too small to be compatible even with the minimum radius of the remnant $\geq 10 pc$, the value corresponding to the {\it lower} limit of the estimated distance of $10.2 \pm 3.5 kpc$, unless the true distance happens to be even smaller than the lower limit. We argue that a consistent scenario for the remnant origin, in whic…
Core-collapse supernova science is now entering an era where engine models are beginning to make both qualitative and quantitative predictions. Although the evidence in support of the convective engine for core-collapse supernova continues to grow, it is difficult to place quantitative constraints on this engine. Some studies have made specific predictions for the remnant distribution from the convective engine, but the results differ between different groups. Here we use a broad parameterization for the supernova engine to understand the differences between distinct studies. With this broader…
Observational data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope are analyzed with a goal in mind to look for variations in gamma-ray flux from young shell-like supernova remnants. Uniform methodological approach is adopted for all SNRs considered. G1.9+0.3 and Kepler SNRs are not detected. The light curves of Cas~A and Tycho SNRs are compatible with the steady GeV flux during the recent ten years, as also X-ray and radio fluxes. Less confident results on SN1006 and SN1987A are discussed.
Our statistics on Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) shows that the electrons temperature ($T$) of hard X-ray and the shock waves traveling velocity ($\upsilon$) decreases with ages ($t$) for all-sort remnants. However, the shock waves swept-up mass ($M_{su}$) of ISM increases with the age. Second, the remnant radio fluxes ($S$) at 1 GHz increase slightly with ISM electrons density ($n_0$). At last, the number distributions illustrate that the supernovae (SNe) initial kinetic energy ($E_0$), hydrogen column density ($N_H$), electrons temperature (kT) of hard X-ray, magnetic field ($B$) and the…
We present a library of numerical models of cosmic-ray accelerating supernova remnants (SNRs) evolving through a homogeneous ambient medium. We analyse distributions of the different energy components and diffusive shock acceleration time-scales for the models in various conditions. The library comprises a variety of SNR evolutionary scenarios and is used to map remnants with sufficiently known properties. This mapping constrains the respective ambient medium properties and the acceleration efficiency. Employing the library, we derive the ambient medium density, ambient magnetic field strength…
I outline the dynamical evolution of the shell remnants of supernovae (SNRs), from initial interaction of supernova ejecta with circumstellar material (CSM) through to the final dissolution of the remnant into the interstellar medium (ISM). Supernova ejecta drive a blast wave through any CSM from the progenitor system; as material is swept up, a reverse shock forms in the ejecta, reheating them. This ejecta-driven phase lasts until ten or more times the ejected mass is swept up, and the remnant approaches the Sedov or self-similar evolutionary phase. The evolution up to this time is approximat…
Context: Multiwavelength observations of supernova remnants can be explained within the framework of diffusive shock acceleration theory, which allows effective conversion of the explosion energy into cosmic rays. Although the models of nonlinear shocks describe reasonably well the nonthermal component of emission, certain issues, including the heating of the thermal electron plasma and the related X-ray emission, still remain open. Methods: Numerical solution of the equations of the Chevalier model for supernova remnant evolution, coupled with Coulomb scattering heating of the electrons. Resu…
We present a new analytical approach to derive approximate solutions describing the shock evolution in non-radiative supernova remnants (SNRs). We focus on the study of the forward shock and contact discontinuity while application to the reverse shock is only discussed briefly. The spherical shock evolution of a SNR in both the interstellar medium with a constant density profile and a circumstellar medium with a wind density profile is investigated. We compared our new analytical solution with numerical simulations and found that a few percent accuracy is achieved. For the evolution of the for…
G349.7 + 00.2 is a young Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) with a mushroom morphology in radio and X-rays, and it has been detected across the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio to high energy $γ$-rays. Moreover, the remnant is interacting with a molecular cloud based on the observations in the radio and infrared band. The reason for the formation of the periphery and the dynamical evolution of the remnant are investigated using 3D hydrodynamical (HD) simulations. Under the assumption that the supernova ejecta is evolved in the medium with a density gradient, the shell is composed of tw…
This is a white paper submitted in response to the call from the Astro2020 Decadal Survey Committee. We outline the scientific progress that will be made in the next few decades in the study of supernova remnants in the X-ray band, using observatories like Athena, Lynx, and AXIS.
Mixing above the proto-neutron star is believed to play an important role in the supernova engine, and this mixing results in a supernova explosion with asymmetries. Elements produced in the innermost ejecta, e.g., ${}^{56}$Ni and ${}^{44}$Ti, provide a clean probe of this engine. The production of ${}^{44}$Ti is particularly sensitive to the exact production pathway and, by understanding the available pathways, we can use ${}^{44}$Ti to probe the supernova engine. Using thermodynamic trajectories from a three-dimensional supernova explosion model, we review the production of these elements an…
Using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulations, we show that the efficiency of cosmic-ray (CR) production at supernova remnants (SNRs) is over-predicted if it could be estimated based on proper motion measurements of H$α$ filaments in combination with shock-jump conditions. Density fluctuations of upstream medium make shock waves rippled and oblique almost everywhere. The kinetic energy of the shock wave is transferred into that of downstream turbulence as well as thermal energy which is related to the shock velocity component normal to the shock surface. Our synthetic observation sh…
In the past few years, gamma-ray astronomy has entered a golden age thanks to two major breakthroughs: Cherenkov telescopes on the ground and the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite. The sample of supernova remnants (SNRs) detected at gamma-ray energies is now much larger: it goes from evolved supernova remnants interacting with molecular clouds up to young shell-type supernova remnants and historical supernova remnants. Studies of SNRs are of great interest, as these analyses are directly linked to the long standing issue of the origin of the Galactic cosmic rays. In this c…
Interstellar medium clouds in the W28 region are emitting gamma-rays and it is likely that the W28 supernova remnant is responsible, making W28 a prime candidate for the study of cosmic-ray acceleration and diffusion. Understanding the influence of both supernova remnant shocks and cosmic rays on local molecular clouds can help to identify multi-wavelength signatures of probable cosmic-ray sources. To this goal, transitions of OH, SiO, NH3, HCO+ and CS have complemented CO in allowing a characterization of the chemically rich environment surrounding W28. This remnant has been an ideal test-bed…
We briefly reviewed some recent progress on the studies of supernova remnants (SNRs), including the radio SNRs (the structure, polarization, spectrum etc.), observational characteristics of X-ray emission, pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe), association properties between SNR and PSR, interaction of SNR and interstellar medium (ISM), cosmos ray and the SNRs in external galaxies, etc.. Correspondingly to the continue improvement of space and spectrum resolution of the on-ground and in-space astronomical equipments at wavelengthes as radio, optical, X-ray and so on, we know about SNRs more and deeper.
We revise the assumptions of the parameters involved in predicting the number of supernova remnants detectable in the nuclear lines of the decay chain of 44Ti. Specifically, we consider the distribution of the supernova progenitors, the supernova rate in the Galaxy, the ratios of supernova types, the Galactic production of 44Ti, and the 44Ti yield from supernovae of different types, to derive credible bounds on the expected number of detectable remnants. We find that, within 1 sigma uncertainty, the Galaxy should contain an average of 5.1+2.4-2.0 remnants detectable to a survey with a 44Ti dec…
We present a comprehensive study of interstellar X-ray extinction using the extensive Chandra supernova remnant archive and use our results to refine the empirical relation between the hydrogen column density and optical extinction. In our analysis, we make use of the large, uniform data sample to assess various systematic uncertainties in the measurement of the interstellar X-ray absorption. Specifically, we address systematic uncertainties that originate from (i) the emission models used to fit supernova remnant spectra, (ii) the spatial variations within individual remnants, (iii) the physi…
H-alpha emission from supernova remnants (SNRs) implies the existence of neutral hydrogen in the circumstellar medium. Some of the neutral particles penetrating the shock are ionized by the charge exchange process and make a cold ion beam in the shock downstream region. We perform linear analyses of collisionless plasma instabilities between the cold beam and the hot downstream plasma. We find that, under typical SNR conditions, either the resonant instability or the Weibel instability is the most unstable. This mechanism may amplify the magnetic field to more than 100 micro G and changes the …
G35.6-0.4 is an extended radio source in the Galactic plane which has previously been identified as either a supernova remnant or an HII region. Observations from the VLA Galactic Plane Survey at 1.4 GHz with a resolution of 1 arcmin allow the extent of G35.6-0.4 to be defined for the first time. Comparison with other radio survey observations show that this source has a non-thermal spectral index, with alpha -0.47 +/- 0.07. G35.6-0.4 does not have obvious associated infra-red emission, so it is identified as a Galactic supernova remnant, not an HII region. It is approximately 15 x 11 arcmin**…
Using $5.4$ year Fermi-LAT data, we report the detection of GeV $γ$-ray emission from the shell-type supernova remnant RCW 86 (G315.4-2.3) with a significance of $\sim5.1σ$. The data slightly favors an extended emission of this supernova remnant. The spectral index of RCW 86 is found to be very hard, $Γ\sim1.4$, in the $0.4$ to $300$ GeV range. A one zone leptonic model can well fit the multi-wavelength data from radio to very high energy $γ$-rays. The very hard GeV $γ$-ray spectrum and the inferred low gas density seem to disfavor the hadronic origin of the $γ$-rays. The $γ$-ray behavior of R…
