No Arabic abstract
We report an X-ray study of the evolved Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G156.2+5.7 based on six pointing observations with Suzaku. The remnants large extent (100$arcmin$ in diameter) allows us to investigate its radial structure in the northwestern and eastern directions from the apparent center. The X-ray spectra were well fit with a two-component non-equilibrium ionization model representing the swept-up interstellar medium (ISM) and the metal-rich ejecta. We found prominent central concentrations of Si, S and Fe from the ejecta component; the lighter elements of O, Ne and Mg were distributed more uniformly. The temperature of the ISM component suggests a slow shock (610-960 km s$^{-1}$), hence the remnants age is estimated to be 7,000-15,000 yr, assuming its distance to be $sim$1.1 kpc. G156.2+5.7 has also been thought to emit hard, non-thermal X-rays, despite being considerably older than any other such remnant. In response to a recent discovery of a background cluster of galaxies (2XMM J045637.2+522411), we carefully excluded its contribution, and reexamined the origin of the hard X-ray emission. We found that the residual hard X-ray emission is consistent with the expected level of the cosmic X-ray background. Thus, no robust evidence for the non-thermal emission was obtained from G156.2+5.7. These results are consistent with the picture of an evolved SNR.
We present results from X-ray analysis of a Galactic middle-aged supernova remnant (SNR) G156.2+5.7 which is bright and largely extended in X-ray wavelengths, showing a clear circular shape (radius about 50). Using the Suzaku satellite, we observed this SNR in three pointings; partially covering the northwestern rim, the eastern rim, and the central portion of this SNR. In the northwestern rim and the central portion, we confirm that the X-ray spectra consist of soft and hard-tail emission, while in the eastern rim we find no significant hard-tail emission. The soft emission is well fitted by non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) model. In the central portion, a two-component (the interstellar medium and the metal-rich ejecta) NEI model fits the soft emission better than a one-component NEI model from a statistical point of view. The relative abundances in the ejecta component suggest that G156.2+5.7 is a remnant from a core-collapse SN explosion whose progenitor mass is less than 15 M_solar. The origin of the hard-tail emission is highly likely non-thermal synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons. In the northwestern rim, the relativistic electrons seem to be accelerated by a forward shock with a slow velocity of about 500 km/sec.
We report re-analyses of the Suzaku observations of the Galactic supernova remnant (SNR), G272.2$-$3.2, for which the previous studies were limited below 3 keV. With careful data reduction and background subtraction, we discover the K-shell lines of Ar, Ca, and Fe above 3 keV. The X-ray spectrum of G272.2$-$3.2 consists of two components, a low-temperature collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE) plasma ($kT_{rm e} sim 0.2$ keV) and a high-temperature non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) plasma ($kT_{rm e} = 0.6$-$3$ keV). The CIE plasma has solar abundances over the entire area, hence it would originate from the interstellar medium. On the other hand, the abundances of the NEI plasma increase toward the inner region, suggesting the ejecta origin. The line center energy of the Fe K-shell emission ($sim 6.4$ keV) suggests that the ejecta are recently heated by the reverse shock, a common feature in Type Ia SNRs.
We present the first dedicated X-ray study of the supernova remnant (SNR) G32.8-0.1 (Kes 78) with Suzaku. X-ray emission from the whole SNR shell has been detected for the first time. The X-ray morphology is well correlated with the emission from the radio shell, while anti-correlated with the molecular cloud found in the SNR field. The X-ray spectrum shows not only conventional low-temperature (kT ~ 0.6 keV) thermal emission in a non-equilibrium ionization state, but also a very high temperature (kT ~ 3.4 keV) component with a very low ionization timescale (~ 2.7e9 cm^{-3}s), or a hard non-thermal component with a photon index Gamma~2.3. The average density of the low-temperature plasma is rather low, of the order of 10^{-3}--10^{-2} cm^{-3}, implying that this SNR is expanding into a low-density cavity. We discuss the X-ray emission of the SNR, also detected in TeV with H.E.S.S., together with multi-wavelength studies of the remnant and other gamma-ray emitting SNRs, such as W28 and RCW 86. Analysis of a time-variable source, 2XMM J185114.3-000004, found in the northern part of the SNR, is also reported for the first time. Rapid time variability and a heavily absorbed hard X-ray spectrum suggest that this source could be a new supergiant fast X-ray transient.
We show that the expansion of ejecta in Tychos supernova remnant (SNR) is consistent with a spherically symmetric shell, based on Suzaku measurements of the Doppler broadened X-ray emission lines. All the strong K_alpha line emission show broader widths at the center than at the rim, while the centroid energies are constant across the remnant (except for Ca). This is the pattern expected for Doppler broadening due to expansion of the SNR ejecta in a spherical shell. To determine the expansion velocities of the ejecta, we applied a model for each emission line feature having two Gaussian components separately representing red- and blue-shifted gas, and inferred the Doppler velocity difference between these two components directly from the fitted centroid energy difference. Taking into account the effect of projecting a three-dimensional shell to the plane of the detector, we derived average spherical expansion velocities independently for the K_alpha emission of Si, S, Ar, and Fe, and K_beta of Si. We found that the expansion velocities of Si, S, and Ar ejecta of 4700+/-100 km/s are distinctly higher than that obtained from Fe K_alpha emission, 4000+/-300 km/s, which is consistent with segregation of the Fe in the inner ejecta. Combining the observed ejecta velocities with the ejecta proper-motion measurements by Chandra, we derived a distance to the Tychos SNR of 4+/-1 kpc.
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 respectively, and their intensities reflect their density distributions. Thus, the remnant provides a suitable laboratory to test possible association between the acceleration efficiency and the environment. In this paper, we present results of spatially resolved spectroscopy of the entire remnant with Suzaku. The spacially-resolved spectra are well reproduced with a combination of a power-law for synchrotron emission and a two-component optically thin thermal plasma, corresponding to the shocked interstellar medium (ISM) with kT of 0.3-0.6 keV and Fe-dominated ejecta. It is discovered that the photon index of the nonthermal component becomes smaller with decreasing the emission measure of the shocked ISM, where the shock speed has remained high. This result implies that the maximum energy of accelerated electrons in RCW 86 is higher in the low-density and higher shock speed regions.