0000000000388139

AUTHOR

A. Decourchelle

The loss-limited electron energy in SN 1006: effects of the shock velocity and of the diffusion process

The spectral shape of the synchrotron X-ray emission from SN 1006 reveals the fundamental role played by radiative losses in shaping the high-energy tail of the electron spectrum. We analyze data from the XMM-Newton SN 1006 Large Program and confirm that in both nonthermal limbs the loss-limited model correctly describes the observed spectra. We study the physical origin of the observed variations of the synchrotron cutoff energy across the shell. We investigate the role played by the shock velocity and by the electron gyrofactor. We found that the cutoff energy of the syncrotron X-ray emission reaches its maximum value in regions where the shock has experienced its highest average speed. T…

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SHOCK-CLOUD INTERACTION AND PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN THE SOUTHWESTERN LIMB OF SN 1006

The supernova remnant SN 1006 is a powerful source of high-energy particles and evolves in a relatively tenuous and uniform environment despite interacting with an atomic cloud in its northwestern limb. The X-ray image of SN 1006 reveals an indentation in the southwestern part of the shock front and the H I maps show an isolated (southwestern) cloud, having the same velocity as the northwestern cloud, whose morphology fits perfectly in the indentation. We performed spatially resolved spectral analysis of a set of small regions in the southwestern nonthermal limb and studied the deep X-ray spectra obtained within the XMM-Newton SN 1006 Large Program. We also analyzed archive H I data, obtain…

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Spatial identification of the overionized plasma in W49B

Recent Suzaku X-ray observations of the ejecta-dominated supernova remnant W49B have shown that in the global spectrum there is a clear indication for the presence of overionized plasma whose physical origin is still under debate. In order to ascertain the physical origin of such a rapidly cooling plasma, we focus on the study of its spatial localization within the X-ray emitting ejecta. We confirm the presence of a saw-edged excess (interpreted as a strong radiative recombination continuum) in the global spectrum above 8 keV, emerging above the ionization-equilibrium model. We produce a hardness ratio map to determine where the plasma is overionized and we perform a spectral analysis of th…

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The northwestern ejecta knot in SN 1006

Aims: We want to probe the physics of fast collision-less shocks in supernova remnants. In particular, we are interested in the non-equilibration of temperatures and particle acceleration. Specifically, we aim to measure the oxygen temperature with regards to the electron temperature. In addition, we search for synchrotron emission in the northwestern thermal rim. Methods: This study is part of a dedicated deep observational project of SN 1006 using XMM-Newton, which provides us with currently the best resolution spectra of the bright northwestern oxygen knot. We aim to use the reflection grating spectrometer to measure the thermal broadening of the O vii line triplet by convolving the emis…

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The X-ray emission of the supernova remnant W49B observed withXMM-Newton

In the framework of the study of supernova remnants and their complex interaction with the interstellar medium, we report on an XMM-Newton EPIC observation of the Galactic supernova remnant W49B. We investigate the spatial distribution of the chemical and physical properties of the plasma, so as to get important constraints on the physical scenario, on the dynamics of the supernova explosion, and on the interaction of the supernova remnant with the ambient interstellar clouds. We present line images, equivalent width maps, and a spatially resolved spectral analysis of a set of homogeneous regions. The X-ray spectrum of W49B is characterized by strong K emission lines from Si, S, Ar, Ca and …

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