# Non-equilibrium ionization in mixed-morphology supernova remnants

## TL;DR

This paper presents advanced hydrodynamical models of mixed-morphology supernova remnants that include non-equilibrium ionization effects, revealing that both adiabatic expansion and thermal conduction induce recombination in these remnants.

## Contribution

The study introduces 2D and 3D hydrodynamical simulations with explicit NEI calculations, demonstrating the roles of adiabatic expansion and thermal conduction in recombination processes.

## Key findings

- Recombination occurs inside simulated MMSNRs.
- Both adiabatic expansion and thermal conduction cause recombination.
- Thermal conduction and adiabatic expansion significantly cool high-temperature gas.

## Abstract

The mixed morphology class of supernova remnants (MMSNRs) comprises a substantial fraction of observed remnants and yet there is as yet no consensus on their origin. A clue to their nature is the presence of regions that show X-ray evidence of recombining plasmas. Recent calculations of remnant evolution in a cloudy interstellar medium (ISM) that included thermal conduction but not non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) showed promise in explaining observed surface brightness distributions but could not determine if recombining plasmas were present. In this paper, we present numerical hydrodynamical models of MMSNRs in 2D and 3D including explicit calculation of NEI effects. Both the spatial ionization distribution and temperature-density diagrams show that recombination occurs inside the simulated MMSNR, and that both adiabatic expansion and thermal conduction cause recombination, albeit in different regions. Features created by the adiabatic expansion stand out in the spatial and temperature-density diagrams, but thermal conduction also plays a role. Thus thermal conduction and adiabatic expansion both contribute significantly to the cooling of high-temperature gas. Realistic observational data are simulated with both spatial and spectral input from various regions. We also discuss the possibility of analyzing the sources of recombination and dominant hydrodynamical processes in observations using temperature-density diagrams and spatial maps.