The (Re-)Discovery of G350.1-0.3: A Young, Luminous Supernova Remnant and Its Neutron Star
Abstract
We present an XMM-Newton observation of the long-overlooked radio source G350.1-0.3. The X-ray spectrum of G350.1-0.3 can be fit by a shocked plasma with two components: a high-temperature (1.5 keV) region with a low ionization timescale and enhanced abundances, plus a cooler (0.36 keV) component in ionization equilibrium and with solar abundances. The X-ray spectrum and the presence of nonthermal, polarized, radio emission together demonstrate that G350.1-0.3 is a young, luminous supernova remnant (SNR), for which archival H I and12CO data indicate a distance of 4.5 kpc. The diameter of the source then implies an age of only ≈900 years. The SNR's distorted appearance and small size and the presence of12CO emission along the SNR's eastern edge all indicate that the source is interacting with a complicated distribution of dense ambient material. An unresolved X-ray source, XMMU J172054.5-372652, is detected a few arcminutes west of the brightest SNR emission. The thermal X-ray spectrum and lack of any multiwavelength counterpart suggest that this source is a neutron star associated with G350.1-0.3, most likely a "central compact object," as seen coincident with other young SNRs such as Cassiopeia A.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1086/589650
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0804.0462
- Bibcode:
- 2008ApJ...680L..37G
- Keywords:
-
- ISM: individual: G350.1–0.3;
- stars: individual: XMMU J172054.5–372652;
- stars: neutron;
- supernova remnants;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, uses emulateapj. One B/W figure, one color figure. Minor text changes and update to Fig 2 following referee's report. ApJ Letters, in press