Interstellar absorptions and shocked clouds towards supernova remnant RX J0852.0-4622

TL;DR

This study investigates interstellar absorption features towards SNR RX J0852.0-4622, revealing shocked clouds and their dynamics, including acceleration, which enhances understanding of the local interstellar medium and SNR interactions.

Contribution

It provides new observations of shocked clouds and their acceleration near Vela SNR, highlighting the presence of small-size clouds and their properties in the local interstellar environment.

Findings

Identification of high-velocity CaII components as shocked clouds.

Measurement of cloud acceleration along the line of sight.

Estimation of hydrogen column density indicating small cloud sizes.

Abstract

We present results of survey of interstellar absorptions towards supernova remnant (SNR) RX J0852.0-4622. The distribution of KI absorbers along the distance of the background stars is indicative of a local region (d<600pc) strongly depopulated by KI line-absorbing clouds. This fact is supported by the behavior of the interstellar extinction. We find four high-velocity CaII components with velocities of >100km/s towards three stars and identify them with shocked clouds of Vela SNR. We reveal and measure acceleration of two shocked clouds at the approaching and receding sides of Vela SNR along the same sight line. The clouds acceleration, velocity, and CaII column density are used to probe cloud parameters. The total hydrogen column density of both accelerating clouds is found to be similar (~6*10^{17} cm$^{-2}$) which indicates that possibly there is a significant amount of small-size clouds in the vicinity of Vela SNR.