The properties of non-thermal X-ray filaments in young supernova remnants

Context. Young supernova remnants (SNRs) exhibit narrow filaments of non-thermal X-ray emission whose widths can be limited either by electron energy losses or damping of the magnetic field.
Aims: We want to investigate whether or not different models of these filaments can be observationally tested.
Methods: Using observational parameters of four historical remnants, we calculated the filament profiles and compared the spectra of the filaments with those of the total non-thermal emission. For that purpose, we solved a one-dimensional stationary transport equation for the isotropic differential number density of the electrons.
Results: We find that the difference between the spectra of filament and total non-thermal emission above 1 keV is more pronounced in the damping model than in the energy-loss model.
Conclusions: A considerable damping of the magnetic field can result in an observable difference between the spectra of filament and total non-thermal emission, thus potentially permitting an observational discrimination between the energy-loss model and the damping model of the X-ray filaments.