Shock evolution in non-radiative supernova remnants

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simplified analytical model for the shock evolution in non-radiative supernova remnants, accurately describing forward shock and contact discontinuity in different media, validated against numerical simulations.

Contribution

A new analytical approach that simplifies the modeling of shock evolution in supernova remnants, achieving high accuracy with minimal assumptions.

Findings

Achieves a few percent accuracy compared to numerical simulations.

Performs better than previous models in wind density profiles with steep ejecta density.

Provides a simplified yet accurate analytical solution for SNR shock evolution.

Abstract

We present a new analytical approach to derive approximate solutions describing the shock evolution in non-radiative supernova remnants (SNRs). We focus on the study of the forward shock and contact discontinuity while application to the reverse shock is only discussed briefly. The spherical shock evolution of a SNR in both the interstellar medium with a constant density profile and a circumstellar medium with a wind density profile is investigated. We compared our new analytical solution with numerical simulations and found that a few percent accuracy is achieved. For the evolution of the forward shock, we also compared our new solution to previous analytical models. In a uniform ambient medium, the accuracy of our analytical approximation is comparable to that in Truelove&McKee (1999). In a wind density profile medium, our solution performs better than that in Micelotta et al. (2016), especially when the ejecta envelope has a steep density profile. The new solution is significantly simplified compared to previous analytical models, as it only depends on the asymptotic behaviors of the remnant during its evolution.