X-ray Fading and Expansion in the "Miniature Supernova Remnant" of GK Persei

TL;DR

This study presents a second epoch of Chandra X-ray observations of GK Persei's remnant, revealing a 30-40% flux decline, expansion, and insights into the remnant's interaction with its environment over 13.8 years.

Contribution

First detailed multi-epoch X-ray imaging spectroscopy of GK Persei's remnant, demonstrating flux fading and expansion consistent with expansion into a lower density medium.

Findings

X-ray flux declined by 30-40% over 13.8 years.

Remnant's expansion rate is approximately 0.14 arcsec per year.

Fading is more rapid in fainter regions, indicating lower ambient density.

Abstract

We report on a second epoch of Chandra X-ray imaging spectroscopy of the spatially-resolved old nova remnant GK Persei. An ACIS-S3 observation of 97.4 ks was conducted in November 2013 after a lapse of 13.8 years from the last visit in 2000. The X-ray emitting nebula appeared more faint and patchy compared with the first epoch. The flux decline was particularly evident in fainter regions and the mean decline was 30-40 % in the 0.5-1.2 keV energy band. A typical expansion of the brightest part of the remnant was 1.9 arcsec, which corresponds to an expansion rate of 0.14 arcsec yr^{-1}. The soft X-ray spectra extracted from both the 2000 and 2013 data can be explained by a non-equilibrium ionization collisional plasma model convolved with interstellar absorption, though do not allow us to constrain the origin of the flux evolution. The plasma temperature has not significantly evolved since the 2000 epoch and we conclude that the fading of the X-ray emission is due largely to expansion. This implies that recent expansion has been into a lower density medium, a scenario that is qualitatively consistent with the structure of the circumstellar environment photographed soon after the initial explosion more than a century ago. Fainter areas are fading more quickly than brighter areas, indicating that they are fainter because of a lower ambient medium density and consequently more rapid expansion.