Mapping the dense molecular gas towards thirteen supernova remnants

TL;DR

This study maps dense molecular gas around 13 supernova remnants using HCO+ and HCN lines, revealing shock interactions and shell structures, and evaluates molecular line ratios as indicators of SNR feedback and cosmic ray effects.

Contribution

It provides new observational data on molecular gas interactions with supernova remnants and assesses the diagnostic value of molecular line ratios in these environments.

Findings

Detection of strong HCO+ emission in several SNRs indicating interaction.

Identification of an expanding 12CO shell around G9.7-0.0.

Limited variation in line ratios suggests they are not reliable tracers of SNR feedback.

Abstract

Supernova remnants (SNRs) can exert strong influence on molecular clouds (MCs) through interaction by shock wave and cosmic rays. In this paper, we present our mapping observation of HCO+ and HCN 1-0 lines towards 13 SNRs interacting with MCs, together with archival data of CO isotopes. Strong HCO+ emission is found in the fields of view (FOVs) of SNRs W30, G9.7-0.0, Kes 69, 3C 391, 3C 396, W51C, HC 40, and CTB109 in the local-standard-of-rest (LSR) velocity intervals in which they are suggested to show evidence of SNR-MC interaction. We find an incomplete 12CO shell surrounding G9.7-0.0 with an expanding motion. This shell may be driven by the stellar wind of the SNR progenitor. We also find an arc of 12CO gas spatially coincident with the northwestern radio shell of Kes 69. As for the HCO+ line emission, SNRs 3C 391 and W51C exhibit significant line profile broadening indicative of shock perturbation, and CTB109 exhibits a possible blue-shifted line wing brought by shock interaction. We do not find significant variation of the I(HCO+)/I(HCN) line ratio between broad-line and narrow-line regions, among different SNRs, and between MCs associated with SNRs and typical Galactic MCs. Therefore, we caution on using the I(HCO+)/I(HCN) line ratio as a diagnostic of SNR feedback and CR ionization. We also estimate the N(HCO+)/N(CO) abundance ratio in 11 regions towards the observed SNRs, but they show little difference from the typical values in quiescent MCs, possibly because N(HCO+)/N(CO) is not an effective tracer of CR ionization.