Numerically investigating the morphology of the supernova remnant SN 1006 in the ambient medium with a density discontinuity

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamic simulations to explain the peculiar bilateral and filamentary morphologies of supernova remnant SN 1006, attributing them to interactions with an ambient medium featuring a density discontinuity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 3D hydrodynamic modeling approach to explain complex remnant morphologies caused by ambient medium density discontinuities.

Findings

Protrusions result from line-of-sight effects on hemispherical shells.

Filament formation explained by intersection of line of sight with shocked material.

Morphological features reproduced by simulations with density discontinuity.

Abstract

Multiband observations on the type Ia supernova remnant SN 1006 indicate peculiar properties in its morphologies of emission in the radio, optical and X-ray bands. In the hard X-rays, the remnant is bilateral with two opposite bright limbs with prominent protrusions. Moreover, a filament has been detected at the radio, optical and soft X-ray wavelengthes. The reason for these peculiar features in the morphologies of the remnant is investigated using 3D HD simulations. With the assumption that the supernova ejecta is evolved in the ambient medium with a density discontinuity, the radius of the remnant's boundary is smaller in the tenuous medium, and the shell consists of two hemispheres with different radiuses. Along particular line of sights, protrusions appear on the periphery of the remnants since the emission from the edge of the hemisphere with a larger radius is located outside that from the shell of the small hemisphere. Furthermore, the northwest filament of SN 1006 arises as a result of the intersection of the line of sight and the shocked material near the edges of the two hemispheres. It can be concluded that the features that the protrusions on the northeast and southwest limbs and the northwest filament in the morphologies of SN 1006 can be reproduced as the remnants interacting with the medium with a density discontinuity.