Supersoft X-Ray Nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud

TL;DR

This study investigates supersoft X-ray nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud to understand their connection to Type Ia supernova progenitors by analyzing nebular emissions and constraining progenitor luminosities.

Contribution

The paper provides observational constraints on nebular [O III] emission around supersoft X-ray sources and supernova remnants, refining models of their environments and progenitor luminosities.

Findings

Only CAL 83 is associated with an [O III] nebula.

Upper limits on [O III] luminosity constrain ISM densities and X-ray luminosities.

Progenitor ionizing luminosities are constrained for recent supernova remnants.

Abstract

Supersoft X-rays sources (SSSs) have been proposed as potential Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitors. If such objects are indeed persistently X-ray luminous and embedded in sufficiently dense ISM, they will be surrounded by extended nebular emission. These nebulae should persist even long after a SN Ia explosion, due to the long recombination and cooling times involved. With this in mind, we searched for nebular [O III] emission around four SSSs and three SNRs in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using the 6.5m Baade telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and the IMACS camera. We confirm that, out of the four SSS candidates, only CAL 83 can be associated with an [O III] nebula. The [O III] luminosity for the other objects are constrained to $\lesssim 17\%$ of that of CAL 83 at 6.8 pc from the central source. Models computed with the photoionization code CLOUDY indicate that either the ISM densities in the environments of CAL 87, RX J0550.0-7151 and RX J0513.9-6951 must be significantly lower than surrounding CAL 83, or the average X-ray luminosities of these sources over the last $\lesssim 10,000$ years must be significantly lower than presently observed, in order to be consistent with the observed luminosity upper limits. For the three SNRs we consider (all with ages $< 1000$ years), our [O III] flux measurements together with the known surrounding ISM densities strongly constrain the ionizing luminosity of their progenitors in the last several thousand years, independent of the progenitor channel.