Constraints on the physics of type ia supernovae from the x-ray spectrum of the tycho supernova remnant

Nov, 2005
46 pages
Published in:
  • Astrophys.J. 645 (2006) 1373-1391
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Abstract: (arXiv)
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 years 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 self-consistent 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 1.2e51 erg. All the other paradigms for Type Ia explosions that we have tested fail to provide a good approximation to the observed ejecta emission, including one-dimensional deflagrations, pulsating delayed detonations and sub-Chandrasekhar explosions, as well as deflagration models calculated in three dimensions. 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.
  • hydrodynamics
  • ISM: individual (SN 1572)
  • nuclear reactions, nucleosynthesis, abundances
  • supernova remnants
  • supernovae: general
  • X-rays: ISM