Constraints on Cosmic-ray Acceleration Efficiency in Balmer Shocks of Two Young Type Ia Supernova Remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud


الملخص بالإنكليزية

We present results from an optical study of two young Balmer-dominated remnants of SNIa in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 0509$-$67.5 and 0519$-$69.0, in an attempt to search for signatures of efficient cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration. We combine proper motion measurements from HST with corresponding optical spectroscopic measurements of the H$alpha$ line at multiple rim positions from VLT/FORS2 and SALT/RSS and compare our results to published Balmer shock models. Analysis of the optical spectra result in broad H$alpha$ widths in the range of 1800-4000 km s$^{-1}$ for twelve separate Balmer-dominated filaments that show no evidence for forbidden line emission, the corresponding shock speeds from proper motion measurements span a range of 1700-8500 km s$^{-1}$. Our measured values of shock speeds and broad H$alpha$ widths in 0509$-$67.5 and 0519$-$69.0 are fit well with a Balmer shock model that does not include effects of efficient CR acceleration. We determine an upper limit of 7%/$chi$ (95% confidence) on the CR acceleration efficiency for our ensemble of data points, where $chi$ is the ionization fraction of the pre-shock gas. The upper limits on the individual remnants are 6%/$chi$ (0509$-$67.5) and 11%/$chi$ (0519$-$69.0). These upper limits are below the integrated CR acceleration efficiency in the Tycho supernova remnant, where the shocks predominantly show little H$alpha$ emission, indicating that Balmer-dominated shocks are not efficient CR accelerators.

تحميل البحث