Radiative Supernova Remnants and Supernova Feedback

TL;DR

This paper reviews observations of radiative supernova remnants in the Milky Way to validate theoretical models of momentum and energy injection from supernova explosions, highlighting the agreement and challenges in constraining initial explosion energies.

Contribution

It provides observational validation of supernova feedback models by comparing SNR measurements with numerical simulations, emphasizing the consistency in momentum and kinetic energy estimates.

Findings

Observed shell momentum ranges from 0.5 to 4.5 x 10^5 M_sun km/s.

Shocked molecular gas in some SNRs has comparable momentum to atomic shells.

Observation-based momentum and energy align with models of ~10^51 erg explosions.

Abstract

Supernova (SN) explosions are a major feedback mechanism regulating star formation in galaxies through their momentum input. We review the observations of SNRs in radiative stages in the Milky Way to validate the theoretical results on the momentum/energy injection from a single SN explosion. For seven SNRs where we can observe fast-expanding, atomic radiative shells, we show that the shell momentum inferred from HI 21 cm line observations is in the range of (0.5--4.5)$\times 10^5$ $M_\odot$ km s$^{-1}$. In two SNRs (W44 and IC 443), shocked molecular gas with momentum comparable to that of the atomic SNR shells has been also observed. We compare the momentum and kinetic/thermal energy of these seven SNRs with the results from 1D and 3D numerical simulations. The observation-based momentum and kinetic energy agree well with the expected momentum/energy input from an SN explosion of $\sim 10^{51}$ erg. It is much more difficult to use data/model comparisons of thermal energy to constrain the initial explosion energy, however, due to rapid cooling and complex physics at the hot/cool interface in radiative SNRs. We discuss the observational and theoretical uncertainties of these global parameters and explosion energy estimates for SNRs in complex environments.