Three supernova shells around a young star cluster in M33

TL;DR

This study detects and analyzes three concentric expanding shells around a young star cluster in M33, revealing shock-dominated supernova remnants with complex interactions in an inhomogeneous interstellar medium.

Contribution

It introduces a specialized kinematic technique to identify multiple supernova shells and provides detailed physical parameters challenging simple shock models.

Findings

Detection of three concentric expanding shells in M33

Shells are shock-dominated with low kinetic energies

Inhomogeneous medium influences shell evolution

Abstract

Using a specialized technique sensitive to the presence of expanding ionized gas we have detected a set of three concentric expanding shells in an HII region in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. After mapping the kinematics in H{\alpha} with Fabry-Perot spectroscopy we used slit spectra to measure the intensities of the [SII] doublet at {\lambda}{\lambda} 671.9, 673.1 nm and the [NII] doublet at {\lambda}{\lambda} 645.8, 658.3 nm to corroborate the kinematics and apply diagnostic tests using line ratios. These showed that the expanding shells are shock dominated as would be the case if they had originated with supernova explosions. Estimating their kinetic energies we find fairly low values, indicating a fairly advanced stage of evolution. We obtain density, mass and parent star mass estimates, which, along with the kinetic energies, are inconsistent with the simplest models of shock-interstellar medium interaction. We propose that the presence and properties of an inhomogeneous medium offer a scenario which can account for these observations, and discuss the implications. Comparing our results with data from the literature supports the combined presence of an HII region and supernova remnant material at the observed position.