No Arabic abstract
The X-ray structure of Keplers supernova remnant shows a rounded shape delineated by forward shocks. We measure proper motions of the forward shocks on overall rims of the remnant, by using archival Chandra data taken in two epochs with time difference of 6.09 yr. The proper motions of the forward shocks on the northern rim are measured to be from 0.076 (+/-0.032+/-0.016) to 0.110 (+/-0.014+/-0.016) per yr, while those on the rest of the rims are measured to be from 0.150 (+/-0.017+/-0.016) to 0.300 (+/-0.048+/-0.016) per yr, here the first-term errors are statistical uncertainties and the second-term errors are systematic uncertainties. Combining the best-estimated shock velocity of 1660+/-120 km/sec measured for Balmer-dominated filaments in the northern and central portions of the remnant (Sankrit et al. 2005) with the proper motions derived for the forward shocks on the northern rim, we estimate the distance of 3.3 (2.9-4.9) kpc to the remnant. We measure the expansion indices to be 0.47-0.82 for most of the rims. These values are consistent with those expected in Type-Ia SN explosion models, in which the ejecta and the circumstellar medium have power-law density profiles whose indices are 5-7 and 0-2, respectively. Also, we should note the slower expansion on the northern rim than that on the southern rim. This is likely caused by the inhomogeneous circumstellar medium; the density of the circumstellar medium is higher in the north than that in the south of the remnant. The newly estimated geometric center, around which we believe the explosion point exists, is located at about 5 offset in the north of the radio center.
We report on the proper motions of Balmer-dominated filaments in Keplers supernova remnant using high resolution images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope at two epochs separated by about 10 years. We use the improved proper motion measurements and revised values of shock velocities to derive a distance to Kepler of 5.1 [+0.8, -0.7] kpc. The main shock around the northern rim of the remnant has a typical speed of 1690 km/s and is encountering material with densities of about 8 cm^-3. We find evidence for the variation of shock properties over small spatial scales, including differences in the driving pressures as the shock wraps around a curved cloud surface. We find that the Balmer filaments ahead of the ejecta knot on the northwest boundary of the remnant are becoming fainter and more diffuse. We also find that the Balmer filaments associated with circumstellar material in the interior regions of the remnant are due to shocks with significantly lower velocities and that the brightness variations among these filaments trace the density distribution of the material, which may have a disk-like geometry.
Supernova 1604 is the last Galactic supernova for which historical records exist. Johannes Keplers name is attached to it, as he published a detailed account of the observations made by himself and European colleagues. Supernova 1604 was very likely a Type Ia supernova, which exploded 350 pc to 750 pc above the Galactic plane. Its supernova remnant, known as Keplers supernova remnant, shows clear evidence for interaction with nitrogen-rich material in the north/northwest part of the remnant, which, given the height above the Galactic plane, must find its origin in mass loss from the supernova progenitor system. The combination of a Type Ia supernova and the presence of circumstellar material makes Keplers supernova remnant a unique object to study the origin of Type Ia supernovae. The evidence suggests that the progenitor binary system of supernova 1604 consisted of a carbon- oxygen white dwarf and an evolved companion star, which most likely was in the (post) asymptotic giant branch of its evolution. A problem with this scenario is that the companion star must have survived the explosion, but no trace of its existence has yet been found, despite a deep search. 1 Introduction; 2 The supernova remnant, its distance and multiwavelength properties; 2.1 Position, distance estimates and SN1604 as a runaway system; 2.2 X-ray imaging spectroscopy and SN1604 as a Type Ia supernova 2.3 The circumstellar medium as studied in the optical and infrared; 3 The dynamics of Keplers SNR; 3.1 Velocity measurements; 3.2 Hydrodynamical simulations; 4 The progenitor system of SN 1604; 4.1 Elevated circumstellar nitrogen abundances, silicates and a single degenerate scenario for SN1604; 4.2 Problems with a single degenerate Type Ia scenario for SN 1604; 4.3 Was SN 1604 a core-degenerate Type Ia explosion?; 4.4 What can we learn from the historical light curve of SN 1604? ; 5 Conclusions
We present a proper motion study of the eastern shock-region of the supernova remnant RCW 86 (MSH 14-63, G315.4-2.3), based on optical observations carried out with VLT/FORS2 in 2007 and 2010. For both the northeastern and southeastern regions, we measure an average proper motion of H-alpha filaments of 0.10 +/- 0.02 arcsec/yr, corresponding to 1200 +/- 200 km/s at 2.5kpc. There is substantial variation in the derived proper motions, indicating shock velocities ranging from just below 700 km/s to above 2200 km/s. The optical proper motion is lower than the previously measured X-ray proper motion of northeastern region. The new measurements are consistent with the previously measured proton temperature of 2.3 +/- 0.3 keV, assuming no cosmic-ray acceleration. However, within the uncertainties, moderately efficient (< 27 per cent) shock acceleration is still possible. The combination of optical proper motion and proton temperature rule out the possibility that RCW 86 has a distance less than 1.5kpc. The similarity of the proper motions in the northeast and southeast is peculiar, given the different densities and X-ray emission properties of the regions. The northeastern region has lower densities and the X-ray emission is synchrotron dominated, suggesting that the shock velocities should be higher than in the southeastern, thermal X-ray dominated, region. A possible solution is that the H-alpha emitting filaments are biased toward denser regions, with lower shock velocities. Alternatively, in the northeast the shock velocity may have decreased rapidly during the past 200yr, and the X-ray synchrotron emission is an afterglow from a period when the shock velocity was higher.
We report here the first study of proper motions of fast filaments in the young, oxygen-rich supernova remnant G292.0+1.8, carried out using a series of [O III] 5007 A emission-line images taken over a period of more than 21 years. Images taken at seven epochs from 1986 to 2008, all from telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, show oxygen-emitting filaments, presumably ejecta fragments, throughout most of the remnant. We have measured the proper motions for 67 discrete filaments through two-dimensional correlations between images from different epochs. While the motions are small, mostly 20 to 100 milli-arcsec, they are nevertheless measurable through a robust technique of averaging measurements from many epoch pairs. The data are qualitatively consistent with a free-expansion model, and clearly show systematic motions outward from a point near the center of the radio/X-ray shell. Global fits using this model indicate an expansion center at R.A.(2000.0) = 11:24:34.4, Dec.(2000.0) = -59:15:51, and a kinematic age of 2990+-60 years. The young pulsar PSR J1124-5916 is located 46 arcsec southeast of the expansion center. Assuming that it was launched by the supernova, we expect the pulsar to be moving southeastward at 16 milli-arcsec, or a transverse velocity of 440 km/s. We find the fastest ejecta along an axis oriented roughly N-S in the plane of the sky, suggesting that a bipolar explosion produced G292.0+1.8, as appears to have been the case for Cas A.
We report measurements of proper motion, radial velocity, and elemental composition for 14 X-ray knots in Keplers supernova remnant (SNR) using Chandra data. The highest speed knots show both large proper motions (0.11-0.14 /yr) and high radial velocities (v ~ 8,700--10,020 km/s) with estimated space velocities comparable to the typical Si velocity (~10,000 km/s) seen in SN Ia near maximum light. High speed ejecta knots appear only in specific locations and are morphologically and kinematically distinct from the rest of the ejecta. The proper motions of five knots extrapolate back over the age of Keplers SNR to a consistent central position that agrees well with previous determinations, but is less subject to systematic errors. These five knots are expanding at close to the free expansion rate (expansion indices of 0.75 <~ m <~ 1.0), which we argue indicates either that they were formed in the explosion with a high density contrast (more than 100 times the ambient density) or that they have propagated through relatively low density (n_H < 0.1 cm^-3) regions in the ambient medium. X-ray spectral analysis shows that the undecelerated knots have high Si and S abundances, a lower Fe abundance and very low O abundance, pointing to an origin in the partial Si-burning zone, which occurs in the outer layer of the exploding white dwarf for SN Ia models. Other knots show slower speeds and expansion indices consistent with decelerated ejecta knots or features in the ambient medium overrun by the forward shock. Our new accurate location for the explosion site has well-defined positional uncertainties allowing for a great reduction in the area to be searched for faint surviving donor stars under non-traditional single-degenerate SN Ia scenarios; because of the lack of bright stars in the search area the traditional scenario remains ruled out.