Spatially Resolved Chandra Spectroscopy of Supernova Remnant DEM L71 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed spatially resolved X-ray spectral analysis of the supernova remnant DEM L71, revealing asymmetrical metal distribution and confirming its Type Ia origin, with estimates of age and explosion energy.

Contribution

It offers the first detailed spatially resolved elemental abundance profiles of DEM L71, highlighting asymmetries and confirming its Type Ia supernova origin.

Findings

Asymmetrical distribution of metal-rich ejecta gas.

Fe is enhanced in the ejecta, O and Ne are negligible.

Estimated age of ~6,660 years and explosion energy of ~1.74×10^{51} erg.

Abstract

We present a detailed X-ray spectroscopic study of the supernova remnant DEM L71 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Based on deep $\sim 103$ ks archival {\it Chandra} data, we perform a detailed spatially resolved spectral analysis of DEM L71. We analyze regional spectra extracted from thin-sliced regions along several different azimuthal directions of the SNR to construct radial profiles of elemental abundances for O, Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe. Our elemental abundance measurements reveal an asymmetrical spatial distribution of metal-rich ejecta gas. Especially the asymmetry on the western part of the central Fe distribution is remarkable. While the location of the contact discontinuity is generally at $\sim 5$ pc from the geometric center of the X-ray emission of DEM L71, it is uncertain in western part of the remnant. Fe is enhanced in the ejecta while O and Ne abundances are generally negligible. This finding confirms the Type Ia origin of DEM L71. We estimate an upper limit on the Sedov age of $\sim 6,660\pm 770$ yr and explosion energy of $\sim 1.74\pm 0.35\times 10^{51}$ erg for the remnant. This explosion energy estimate is consistent with a canonical explosion of a Type Ia supernova remnant.