Study of the effect of turbulent interstellar mediums on young supernova remnant morphology

TL;DR

This study investigates how turbulent density variations in the interstellar medium influence young supernova remnants' structure, highlighting the importance of ISM turbulence in shaping remnant morphology and questioning the sole role of cosmic ray acceleration.

Contribution

The paper presents three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations showing that ISM turbulence significantly affects SNR morphology, especially the contact discontinuity, independent of cosmic ray acceleration effects.

Findings

Turbulent ISM increases interfacial instabilities in SNRs.

Density perturbations can explain observed proximity between contact discontinuity and blast wave.

ISM turbulence impacts SNR structure similarly to cosmic ray acceleration.

Abstract

Context. Supernova remnants (SNR) are one of the main sources of galactic cosmic rays acceleration. This acceleration, believed to happen at the blast wave front, leads to an energy loss at the shock front. This results in the apparent proximity between the blast wave and the contact discontinuity. Aims. In this article, we study the effect that turbulent-like density perturbations of the interstellar medium (ISM) have on the evolution of young SNRs. We focus on the impact such fluctuations have on the SNRs structure and more precisely on the resulting distance between blast wave and contact discontinuity. Since cosmic rays acceleration is necessary to explain this distance, this study indirectly put into question the cosmic rays acceleration at the blast wave front. Methods. We performed a set of purely hydrodynamic three-dimensional simulations without cosmic ray acceleration in a co-expanding frame. We randomly initialised the density variation of the interstellar medium following a Kolmogorov power law. The resulting ratios of radii between blast wave, contact discontinuity and reverse shock are then compared to the astronomical observations. Results. The addition of density perturbation doesnt significantly change the average ratio of radii. However, the simulations show a higher growth of interfacial instabilities in the presence of a turbulent ISM. The resulting deformation of the contact discontinuity could explain the proximity between contact discontinuity and blast wave. They also explain the plateau in the radial distribution of the line of sight velocity associated with the observations of Tycho. Conclusions. The density perturbation of the ISM should not be neglected in the simulation of young SNR as they have an impact comparable to the cosmic rays acceleration on the SNR structure.