Characterization of M51 supernova remnants with the imaging spectrometer SITELLE

TL;DR

This study uses the SITELLE imaging spectrometer to create detailed 3D maps of supernova remnants in M51, revealing new candidates and providing insights into their velocities and properties compared to HII regions.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive 2D flux and kinematic maps of SNRs in M51, including 20 new candidates, and compares their properties with HII regions using SITELLE data.

Findings

Most SNRs have velocity dispersions of 30-80 km/s.

20 new supernova remnant candidates identified.

SNR properties are compared with HII regions.

Abstract

We present preliminary results of a detailed 3D study of supernova remnants in the nearby spiral M51 using data from the SIGNALS survey obtained with the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer SITELLE at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope (CFHT). Data cubes covering the entire galaxy were gathered in three spectral ranges: SN3 (647-685 nm, R = 5000), SN2 (482-513 nm, R = 600) and SN1 (363-386 nm, R = 1000). The spectral resolution of the SN3 cube allows a precise, spatially resolved measurement of the velocity dispersion of each object. While most of the SNRs were known from previous surveys based on imagery and long-slit spectroscopy, we now provide 2D line flux and kinematic maps for all of them and found 20 new candidates. Most of the SNRs show velocity dispersions ($\sigma$) in the range 30-80 km/s, which is typical for middle-aged SNRs. Finally, we compare the properties of SNRs with those of thousands of HII regions included in the same dataset.