High Spatial Resolution Spectroscopy of G292.0+1.8 with Chandra

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution Chandra X-ray spectroscopy to analyze the supernova remnant G292.0+1.8, revealing detailed elemental distributions, correlations, and insights into its progenitor star.

Contribution

First high-resolution spectral mapping of G292.0+1.8 revealing elemental abundance distributions and progenitor characteristics.

Findings

O, Ne, Mg abundances correlate tightly, indicating explosive C/Ne burning.

Si and S abundances are correlated, suggesting explosive O-burning or incomplete Si-burning.

Fe emission lines are weak, implying reverse shock has not reached Fe-rich ejecta.

Abstract

We present high spatial resolution X-ray spectroscopy of supernova remnant G292.0+1.8 with the {\sl Chandra} observations. The X-ray emitting region of this remnant was divided into 25 $\times$ 25 pixels with a scale of 20$\arcsec$ $\times$ 20$\arcsec$ each. Spectra of 324 pixels were created and fitted with an absorbed one component non-equilibrium ionization model. With the spectral analysis results we obtained maps of absorbing column density, temperature, ionization age, and the abundances for O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe. The abundances of O, Ne and Mg show tight correlations between each other in the range of about two orders of magnitude, suggesting them all from explosive C/Ne burning. Meanwhile, the abundances of Si and S are also well correlated, indicating them to be the ashes of explosive explosive O-burning or incomplete Si-burbing. The Fe emission lines are not prominent among the whole remnant, and its abundance are significantly deduced, indicating that the reverse shock may have not propagated to the Fe-rich ejecta. Based on relative abundances of O, Ne, Mg, Si and Fe to Si, we suggest a progenitor mass of $25-30 M_{\odot}$ for this remnant.