High Resolution X-ray Imaging of Supernova Remnant 1987A

TL;DR

This paper presents high-resolution X-ray imaging of Supernova 1987A, revealing its remnant structure, measuring its size, and constraining the presence of a central compact object with unprecedented detail.

Contribution

The study provides the first direct high-resolution X-ray image of Supernova 1987A's remnant, confirming its morphology and size, and sets new limits on a potential central neutron star or pulsar wind nebula.

Findings

Remnant has a thin ring plus shell structure.

Outer radius of X-ray emitting region is approximately 0.96 arcseconds.

No evidence of an unobscured neutron star or bright pulsar wind nebula.

Abstract

We report observations of the remnant of Supernova 1987A with the High Resolution Camera (HRC) onboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A direct image from the HRC resolves the annular structure of the X-ray remnant, confirming the morphology previously inferred by deconvolution of lower resolution data from the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer. Detailed spatial modeling shows that the a thin ring plus a thin shell gives statistically the best description of the overall remnant structure, and suggests an outer radius 0.96" +/- 0.05" +/- 0.03" for the X-ray-emitting region, with the two uncertainties corresponding to the statistical and systematic errors, respectively. This is very similar to the radius determined by a similar modeling technique for the radio shell at a comparable epoch, in contrast to previous claims that the remnant is 10-15% smaller at X-rays than in the radio band. The HRC observations put a flux limit of 0.010 cts/s (99% confidence level, 0.08-10 keV range) on any compact source at the remnant center. Assuming the same foreground neutral hydrogen column density as towards the remnant, this allows us to rule out an unobscured neutron star with surface temperature T^\infty > 2.5MK observed at infinity, a bright pulsar wind nebula or a magnetar.