Resurrection of Non-thermal Emissions from Type Ib/c Supernova Remnants

TL;DR

This paper models the evolution of non-thermal emissions from Type Ib/c supernova remnants, revealing a re-brightening phase due to complex circumstellar media, aiding understanding of supernova progenitors and cosmic-ray acceleration.

Contribution

It introduces a novel calculation of broadband non-thermal emission evolution from Type Ib/c SNRs using realistic progenitor mass-loss histories, highlighting a re-brightening phase.

Findings

Type Ib/c SNRs undergo a re-brightening in radio and gamma-ray bands.

Re-brightening occurs around 1,000 years for Wolf-Rayet progenitors.

Results unify understanding of non-thermal emissions across different supernova types.

Abstract

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are important objects in investigating the links among supernova (SN) explosion mechanism(s), progenitor stars, and cosmic-ray acceleration. Non-thermal emission from SNRs is an effective and promising tool for probing their surrounding circumstellar media (CSM) and, in turn, the stellar evolution and mass-loss mechanism(s) of massive stars. In this work, we calculate the time evolution of broadband non-thermal emissions from Type Ib/c SNRs whose CSM structures are derived from the mass-loss history of their progenitors. Our results predict that Type Ib/c SNRs make a transition of brightness in radio and $\gamma$-ray bands from an undetectable dark for a certain period to a re-brightening phase. This transition originates from their inhomogeneous CSM structures in which the SNRs are embedded within a low-density wind cavity surrounded by a high-density wind shell and the ambient interstellar medium (ISM). The "resurrection" in non-thermal luminosity happens at an age of ~1,000 yrs old for a Wolf-Rayet star progenitor evolved within a typical ISM density. Combining with the results of Type II SNR evolution recently reported by Yasuda et al. (2021), this result sheds light on a comprehensive understanding of non-thermal emissions from SNRs with different SN progenitor types and ages, which is made possible for the first time by the incorporation of realistic mass-loss histories of the progenitors.