Integral Field Spectroscopy of Balmer-dominated Shocks in the Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnant N103B

Abstract

We present results of integral field spectroscopy of Balmer-dominated shocks in the LMC supernova remnant (SNR) N103B, carried out using the Wide Field Integral Spectrograph (WiFeS ) on the 2.3 m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Existing X-ray studies of N103B have indicated a Type Ia supernova origin. Radiative shock emission from clumpy material surrounding the SNR may result from interaction of the forward shock with relic stellar wind material, possibly implicating a thermonuclear explosion in a single-degenerate binary system. The recently discovered Balmerdominated shocks mark the impact of the forward shock with low density, partially neutral CSM gas, and form a partial shell encircling clumps of material exhibiting radiative shocks. The WiFeS spectra of N103B reveal broad Hα emission having a width as high as 2350 km s −1 along the northern rim, and both Hα and Hβ broad profiles having width around 1300 km s −1 along the southern rim. Fits to the Hα line profiles indicate that in addition to the usual broad and narrow emission components, a third component of intermediate width exists in these Balmer-dominated shocks, ranging from around 125 km s −1 up to 225 km s −1 in width. This is consistent with predictions of recent Balmerdominated shock models, which predict that an intermediate-width component will be generated in a fast neutral precursor. We derive a Sedov age of approximately 685±20 years for N103B from the Balmer-dominated spectra, consistent with the young age of 380 -860 years estimated from light echo studies.

The Expansion of the Young Supernova Remnant 0509-68.7 (N103B)

“…The most obvious caveat here is that by only measuring the change in the remnant's diameter, we cannot know if one side of the remnant is expanding faster than the other. The high densities reported in W14 came from the western half of N103B, the same half in which Ghavamian et al (2017) reported lower shock velocities from the broad Hα component. However, these Balmer line filaments are quite faint, and it is likely that only shocks in denser regions are spectroscopically detectable through their broad component.…”

“…A single light echo was detected by Rest et al (2005), who derive an age of 860 yr for the remnant, broadly consistent with its small size (remnants of comparable size in the LMC are < 1000 yr old). Ghavamian et al (2017) used integral field spectroscopy of the Balmer-dominated shocks to detect broad Hα emission having a width as high as 2350 km s −1 . They derive an age of 685 years, assuming the remnant is in the Sedov phase.…”

Deciphering an evolutionary sequence of merger stages in infrared-luminous starburst galaxies atz∼ 0.7

“…Finally, we also notice that two galaxies (which simultaneously have X-rays and mid-IR dusty torus detection) were fitted with broad Hα components (line width of ∼ 1000 km/s). Such large velocity widths have been observed in both shock-dominated regions (possibly supernova driven, Ghavamian et al (2017)) and AGNs (Peterson 1997;Gaskell 2009;Netzer 2015). IFU data would be needed to disentangle shock or AGN emission, as we expect the latter to be much more concentrated in the central part of the system.…”

Molecular Clouds Associated with the Type Ia SNR N103B in the Large Magellanic Cloud

“…The presence of highly-ionized Fe suggests the strong interaction between the supernova ejecta and the dense CSM (Yamaguchi et al 2014). In fact, recent optical and infrared photometric/spectroscopic observations identified the ionized CSM with a density of ∼500-5000 cm −3 and a possible candidate for a surviving mainsequence companion near the center of the SNR, suggesting a likely candidate for the SD origin (Li et al 2017;Ghavamian et al 2017). The SD scenario is also supported by measurements of the Ca/S mass ratios by X-ray spectroscopic analysis (Martínez-Rodríguez et al 2017).…”