Constraints on Cosmic-ray Acceleration Efficiency in Balmer Shocks of Two Young Type Ia Supernova Remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud

TL;DR

This study investigates Balmer-dominated shocks in two young Type Ia supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud to constrain their cosmic-ray acceleration efficiency, finding it to be below 7% per ionization fraction, indicating low efficiency.

Contribution

The paper provides the first constraints on cosmic-ray acceleration efficiency in Balmer-dominated shocks of SNIa remnants using combined proper motion and spectroscopic data.

Findings

Shock speeds range from 1700 to 8500 km/s.

Broad Hα widths are consistent with non-efficient CR acceleration.

Upper limit of 7%/χ on CR acceleration efficiency.

Abstract

We present results from an optical study of two young Balmer-dominated remnants of SNIa in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 0509$-$67.5 and 0519$-$69.0, in an attempt to search for signatures of efficient cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration. We combine proper motion measurements from HST with corresponding optical spectroscopic measurements of the H$\alpha$ line at multiple rim positions from VLT/FORS2 and SALT/RSS and compare our results to published Balmer shock models. Analysis of the optical spectra result in broad H$\alpha$ widths in the range of 1800-4000 km s$^{-1}$ for twelve separate Balmer-dominated filaments that show no evidence for forbidden line emission, the corresponding shock speeds from proper motion measurements span a range of 1700-8500 km s$^{-1}$. Our measured values of shock speeds and broad H$\alpha$ widths in 0509$-$67.5 and 0519$-$69.0 are fit well with a Balmer shock model that does not include effects of efficient CR acceleration. We determine an upper limit of 7%/$\chi$ (95% confidence) on the CR acceleration efficiency for our ensemble of data points, where $\chi$ is the ionization fraction of the pre-shock gas. The upper limits on the individual remnants are 6%/$\chi$ (0509$-$67.5) and 11%/$\chi$ (0519$-$69.0). These upper limits are below the integrated CR acceleration efficiency in the Tycho supernova remnant, where the shocks predominantly show little H$\alpha$ emission, indicating that Balmer-dominated shocks are not efficient CR accelerators.