A method for computing synchrotron and inverse-Compton emission from hydrodynamic simulations of supernova remnants

TL;DR

This paper introduces a post-processing method to analyze the broad-band emission of supernova remnants using 3D hydrodynamical simulations, capturing complex geometries and spectral properties.

Contribution

The method estimates non-thermal electron distributions and their radiative evolution from hydrodynamical data, enabling realistic modeling of SNR emissions.

Findings

Qualitatively reproduces main observational features of SNRs.

Flux predictions agree with observations within a factor of a few.

Applicable to extended sets of models for SNR emission analysis.

Abstract

The observational signature of supernova remnants (SNRs) is very complex, in terms of both their geometrical shape and their spectral properties, dominated by non-thermal synchrotron and inverse-Compton scattering. We propose a post-processing method to analyse the broad-band emission of SNRs based on three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. From the hydrodynamical data, we estimate the distribution of non-thermal electrons accelerated at the shock wave and follow the subsequent evolution as they lose or gain energy by adiabatic expansion or compression and emit energy by radiation. As a first test case, we use a simulation of a bipolar supernova expanding into a cloudy medium. We find that our method qualitatively reproduces the main observational features of typical SNRs and produces fluxes that agree with observations to within a factor of a few. allowing for further use in more extended sets of models.