Spatial Distribution of Mg-Rich Ejecta in LMC Supernova Remnant N49B

TL;DR

This study uses Chandra data to analyze the spatial distribution of Mg-rich ejecta in the LMC supernova remnant N49B, revealing an elongated Mg-rich feature and implications for the progenitor star's mass.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spatially-resolved spectral analysis of Mg-rich ejecta in N49B, highlighting an extended Mg-rich structure and estimating its mass, which informs supernova progenitor models.

Findings

Mg-rich ejecta extends to the SNR boundary.

The Mg-rich ejecta mass is about 10% of total Mg ejecta.

Total Mg ejecta mass exceeds 0.1 solar masses.

Abstract

The supernova remnant (SNR) N49B in the Large Magellanic Cloud is a peculiar example of a core-collapse SNR to show the shocked metal-rich ejecta enriched only in Mg without evidence for a similar overabundance in O and Ne. Based on archival Chandra data we present results from our extensive spatially-resolved spectral analysis of N49B. We find that the Mg-rich ejecta gas extends from the central regions of the SNR out to the southeastern outermost boundary of the SNR. This elongated feature shows an overabundance for Mg similar to that of the main ejecta region at the SNR center, and its electron temperature appears to be higher than the central main ejecta gas. We estimate that the Mg mass in this southeastern elongated ejecta feature is ~10% of the total Mg ejecta mass. Our estimated lower limit of >0.1 M_sun on the total mass of the Mg-rich ejecta confirms the previously-suggested large mass for the progenitor star (M > ~25 M_sun). We entertain scenarios of an SNR expanding into a non-uniform medium and an energetic jet-driven supernova in an attempt to interpret these results. However, with the current results, the origins of the extended Mg-rich ejecta and the Mg-only-rich nature of the overall metal-rich ejecta in this SNR remain elusive.