Asymmetries of Heavy Elements in the Young Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
Abstract
Supernova remnants (SNRs) offer the means to study supernovae (SNe) long after the original explosion and can provide a unique insight into the mechanism that governs these energetic events. In this work, we examine the morphologies of X-ray emission from different elements found in the youngest known core-collapse SNR in the Milky Way, Cassiopeia A. The heaviest elements exhibit the highest levels of asymmetry, which we relate to the burning process that created the elements and their proximity to the center of explosion. Our findings support recent model predictions that the material closest to the source of explosion will reflect the asymmetries inherent to the SN mechanism. Additionally, we find that the heaviest elements are moving more directly opposed to the neutron star (NS) than the lighter elements. This result is consistent with NS kicks arising from ejecta asymmetries.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- February 2020
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/ab64e4
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1904.06357
- Bibcode:
- 2020ApJ...889..144H
- Keywords:
-
- Supernova remnants;
- Neutron stars;
- Spectroscopy;
- X-ray telescopes;
- X-ray observatories;
- Astronomy data modeling;
- Core-collapse supernovae;
- 1667;
- 1108;
- 1558;
- 1825;
- 1819;
- 1859;
- 304;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables Updated to include an analysis of Emission Measure Maps (vs the, still-included, continuum-subtracted flux maps), used as another proxy for mass maps. The results have not changed