Radio emission from SN 1181 hosting a white dwarf merger product

TL;DR

This study estimates radio emissions from the supernova remnant of SN 1181, associated with a white dwarf merger, predicting detectable signals and analyzing archival data which shows no significant detection.

Contribution

It provides the first estimates of radio flux from shocks in the SN 1181 remnant and encourages targeted high-sensitivity observations.

Findings

Predicted peak radio flux of 0.1--10 mJy at 0.01--1 GHz from the outer shock

Predicted flux of 0.01--0.1 mJy at 1--10 GHz from the inner shock

Archival data shows no significant radio detection of the remnant

Abstract

The remnant of the historical supernova 1181 is claimed to be associated with a white dwarf merger remnant J005311. The supernova remnant (SNR) shock, and a termination shock expected to be formed by the intense wind of J005311, are potential sites for radio emission via synchrotron emission from shock-accelerated electrons. In this paper, we estimate the radio emission from these two shocks, and find the peak radio flux to be 0.1--10 mJy (at 0.01--1 GHz) in the outer SNR shock and 0.01--0.1 mJy (at 1--10 GHz) in the inner termination shock. We also search for radio emission from this source in the archival data of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) Sky Survey at 3 GHz, NRAO VLA Sky Survey at 1.4 GHz and the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey at 408 MHz, resulting in no significant detection. While targeted observations with higher sensitivity are desired, we particularly encourage those at higher frequency and angular resolution to probe the inner termination shock and its evolution.