Measurement of the Forward Shock Velocities of the Supernova Remnant N132D Based on the Thermal X-ray Emission

TL;DR

This study measures the shock velocities of supernova remnant N132D using thermal X-ray emission, revealing velocities from 800 to 1500 km/s and indicating efficient particle acceleration affecting energy transfer.

Contribution

The paper introduces a self-consistent model that simultaneously considers temperature and ionization relaxation to accurately determine shock velocities from X-ray data.

Findings

Shock velocities range from 800 to 1500 km/s.

Discrepancies between X-ray and proper motion measurements suggest efficient particle acceleration.

Results align with gamma-ray observations of the SNR.

Abstract

Measuring shock velocities is crucial for understanding the energy transfer processes at the shock fronts of supernova remnants (SNRs), including acceleration of cosmic rays. Here we present shock velocity measurements on the SNR N132D, based on the thermal properties of the shock-heated interstellar medium. We apply a self-consistent model developed in our previous work to X-ray data from deep Chandra observations with an effective exposure of $\sim$ 900 ks. In our model, both temperature and ionization relaxation processes in post-shock plasmas are simultaneously calculated, so that we can trace back to the initial condition of the shock-heated plasma to constrain the shock velocity. We reveal that the shock velocity ranges from 800 to 1500 $\rm{km~s^{-1}}$ with moderate azimuthal dependence. Although our measurement is consistent with the velocity determined by independent proper motion measurements in the south rim regions, a large discrepancy between the two measurements (up to a factor of 4) is found in the north rim regions. This implies that a substantial amount of the kinetic energy has been transferred to the nonthermal component through highly efficient particle acceleration. Our results are qualitatively consistent with the $\gamma$-ray observations of this SNR.