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 report on an {it XMM-Newton} observation of the supernova remnant (SNR) object{DEM L241} in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In the soft band image, the emission shows an elongated structure, like a killifish, with a central compact source. The compact
source is point-like, and named as XMMU J053559.3$-$673509. The source spectrum is well reproduced with a power-law model with a photon index of $Gamma = 1.57$ (1.51--1.62) and the intrinsic luminosity is $2.2times 10^{35} mathrm{ergs s^{-1}}$ in the 0.5--10.0 keV band, with the assumed distance of 50 kpc. The source has neither significant coherent pulsations in $2.0times 10^{-3}$ Hz--8.0 Hz, nor time variabilities. Its luminosity and spectrum suggest that the source might be a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) in DEM L241. The spectral feature classifies this source into rather bright and hard PWN, which is similar to those in Kes 75 and B0540$-$693. The elongated diffuse structure can be divided into a ``Head and ``Tail, and both have soft and line-rich spectra. Their spectra are well reproduced by a plane-parallel shock plasma ({it vpshock}) model with a temperature of 0.3--0.4 keV and over-abundance in O and Ne and a relative under-abundance in Fe. Such an abundance pattern and the morphology imply that the emission is from the ejecta of the SNR, and that the progenitor of DEM L241 is a very massive star, more than 20 Msun. This result is also supported by the existence of the central point source and an OB star association, LH 88. The total thermal energy and plasma mass are $sim 4times 10^{50}$ ergs and $sim 200$ Msun, respectively.
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 su
pernova 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 that the progenitor system was a close binary whose primary star had an initial mass of approx. 23-35 solar masses with a companion star about 10 times less massive.
We report the discovery of a very young high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) system associated with the supernova remnant (SNR) MCSNRJ0513-6724 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using XMM-Newton X-ray observations. The HMXB is located at the geometrical
centre of extended soft X-ray emission, which we confirm as an SNR. The HMXB spectrum is consistent with an absorbed power law with spectral index ~1.6 and a luminosity of 7x10^{33} ergs/s (0.2--12 keV). Tentative X-ray pulsations are observed with a periodicity of 4.4 s and the OGLE I-band light curve of the optical counterpart from more than 17.5 years reveals a period of 2.2324pm0.0003 d, which we interpret as the orbital period of the binary system. The X-ray spectrum of the SNR is consistent with non-equilibrium shock models as expected for young/less evolved SNRs. From the derived ionisation time scale we estimate the age of the SNR to be <6 kyr. The association of the HMXB with the SNR makes it the youngest HMXB, in the earliest evolutionary stage known to date. A HMXB as young as this can switch on as an accreting pulsar only when the spin period has reached a critical value. Under this assumption, we obtain an upper limit to the magnetic field of < 5x10^{11} G. This implies several interesting possibilities including magnetic field burial, possibly by an episode of post-supernova hyper-critical accretion. Since these fields are expected to diffuse out on a timescale of 10^{3}-10^{4} years, the discovery of a very young HMXB can provide us the unique opportunity to observe the evolution of the observable magnetic field for the first time in X-ray binaries.
Of the 30 or so Galactic magnetars, about 8 are in supernova remnants (SNRs). One of the most extreme magnetars, 1E 1841-045, is at the center of the SNR Kes 73 (G27.4+0.0), whose age is uncertain. We measure its expansion using three Chandra observa
tions over 15 yr, obtaining a mean rate of 0.023% +/- 0.002% per yr. For a distance of 8.5 kpc, we obtain a shell velocity of 1100 km/s and infer a blast-wave speed of 1400 km/s. For Sedov expansion into a uniform medium, this gives an age of 1800 yr. Derived emission measures imply an ambient density of about 2 cm$^{-3}$ and an upper limit on the swept-up mass of about 70 solar masses, with lower limits of tens of solar masses, confirming that Kes 73 is in an advanced evolutionary stage. Our spectral analysis shows no evidence for enhanced abundances as would be expected from a massive progenitor. Our derived total energy is $1.9 times 10^{51}$ erg, giving a very conservative lower limit to the magnetars initial period of about 3 ms, unless its energy was lost by non-electromagnetic means. We see no evidence of a wind-blown bubble as would be produced by a massive progenitor, or any evidence that the progenitor of Kes 73/1E 1841-045 was anything but a normal red supergiant producing a Type IIP supernova, though a short-lived stripped-envelope progenitor cannot be absolutely excluded. Kes 73s magnetar thus joins SGR 1900+14 as magnetars resulting from relatively low-mass progenitors.
We present the Suzaku results of a supernova remnant (SNR), G359.1-0.5 in the direction of the Galactic center region. From the SNR, we find prominent K-shell lines of highly ionized Si and S ions, together with unusual structures at 2.5-3.0 and 3.1-
3.6 keV. No canonical SNR plasma model, in either ionization equilibrium or under-ionization, can explain the structures. The energies and shapes of the structures are similar to those of the radiative transitions of free electrons to the K-shell of He-like Si and S ions (radiative recombination continuum: RRC). The presence of the strong RRC structures indicates that the plasma is in over-ionization. In fact, the observed spectrum is well fitted with an over-ionized plasma model. The best-fit electron temperature of 0.29 keV is far smaller than the ionization temperature of 0.77 keV, which means that G359.1-0.5 is in extreme condition of over-ionization. We report some cautions on the physical parameters, and comment possible origins for the over-ionized plasma.