Supernova remnants in the Magellanic Clouds

At the 1998 IAU Symposium on the Magellanic Clouds, Dr. Robert Petre observed that we were reaching a time where it was possible “to study the MC SNRs at a level of detail comparable with many Galactic remnants”, while retaining the benefits of a global view in the MCs. Over the past decade, many researchers have taken advantage of these newly accessible populations. New MC-wide surveys at various wavelengths have enabled broader searches for SNR candidates, extending our census of MC SNRs to less prominent objects — older SNRs, SNRs in complex regions, et cetera. The use of light-echoes has provided a new avenue to probe young SNRs. Higher spatial and spectral resolutions in many wavelength regimes have enabled detailed studies of individual remnants, revealing progenitor types, pulsar-wind nebulae, expansion details, and environmental effects.

Perhaps the newest conceptual development is the increasing use of the MC SNRs to study physical problems of wider significance to many fields of astronomy. For example, researchers have examined the energy and hot gas inputs of MC SNRs to the ISM, including their collective effects within superbubbles, in order to evaluate their effects on stellar feedback cycles in a galaxy. Other scientists have investigated the fraction of SNR energies going to the acceleration of cosmic rays, which has significant implications for the role of SNRs in cosmic-ray production. Most recently, the onslaught of Spitzer data has led to new exploration of dust in MC SNRs, allowing us to probe dust creation, depletion, and destruction in the MC SNR populations. In summary, the study of SNRs in the MCs appears to have “come of age” over the past decade, becoming a mature field with rich potential for future scientific work.