Imagery and UV Spectroscopy of the LMC Supernova Remnant N103B Using HST

TL;DR

This study uses HST imagery and UV spectroscopy to analyze the morphology, shock conditions, and chemical abundances of the N103B supernova remnant in the LMC, providing insights into its explosion mechanism.

Contribution

It combines multiband imagery and UV spectroscopy to constrain shock conditions and chemical abundances, offering new evidence on the progenitor system of the supernova.

Findings

Detected diverse shock morphologies and emission-line intensities.

Constrained shock conditions and found typical ISM abundances.

Limited enrichment in shocked material, suggesting a single-degenerate progenitor.

Abstract

We present HST/WFC3 multiband imagery of N103B, the remnant of a Type Ia supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, as well as HST/COS ultraviolet spectroscopy of the brightest radiatively shocked region. The images show a wide range of morphology and relative emission-line intensities, from smooth Balmer-line dominated collisionless shocks due to the primary blast wave, to clumpy radiative shock filaments due to secondary shocks in density enhancements. The COS data show strong FUV line emission despite a moderately high extinction along this line of sight. We use the COS data with previous optical spectra to constrain the shock conditions and refine the abundance analysis, finding abundances typical of the local interstellar medium within the uncertainties. Under an assumption that the material being shocked was shed from the pre-supernova system, this finding places constraints on any significant enrichment in that material, and thus on the non-degenerate star in what was presumably a single-degenerate Type Ia supernova.