Constraints on the Physics of Type Ia Supernovae from the X-Ray Spectrum of the Tycho Supernova Remnant

Constraints on the Physics of Type Ia Supernovae from the X-Ray Spectrum of the Tycho Supernova Remnant

In this paper we use high-quality X-ray observations from XMM-Newton and Chandra to gain new insights into the explosion that originated Tycho's supernova 433 yr ago. We perform a detailed comparison between the ejecta emission from the spatially integrated X-ray spectrum of the supernova remna...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2006-07, Vol.645 (2), p.1373-1391
Main Authors: Badenes, Carles, Borkowski, Kazimierz J, Hughes, John P, Hwang, Una, Bravo, Eduardo
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Astronomia i astrofísica
Astronomy
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Física
Supernovae
Supernoves
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this paper we use high-quality X-ray observations from XMM-Newton and Chandra to gain new insights into the explosion that originated Tycho's supernova 433 yr ago. We perform a detailed comparison between the ejecta emission from the spatially integrated X-ray spectrum of the supernova remnant and current models for Type Ia supernova explosions. We use a grid of synthetic X-ray spectra based on hydrodynamic models of the evolution of the supernova remnant and nonequilibrium ionization calculations for the state of the shocked plasma. We find that the fundamental properties of the X-ray emission in Tycho are well reproduced by a one-dimensional delayed detonation model with a kinetic energy of 61.2 x 10 super(51) ergs. All the other paradigms for Type Ia explosions that we have tested, including one-dimensional deflagrations, pulsating delayed detonations, and sub-Chandrasekhar explosions, as well as deflagration models calculated in three dimensions, fail to provide a good approximation of the observed ejecta emission. Our results require that the supernova ejecta retain some degree of chemical stratification, with Fe peak elements interior to intermediate-mass elements. This strongly suggests that a supersonic burning front (i.e., a detonation) must be involved at some stage in the physics of Type Ia supernova explosions.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357