2006/10/11 by Stephen P. Reynolds, S. P. Reynolds, Kazimierz J. Borkowski +9 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Ionization #Luminosity #Near-Earth supernova #Neutron star #Point source #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Spectral line #Supernova #Supernova remnant #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/510066
published as Astrophys.J.652:L45-L48,2006 · 4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2006/10/11 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We identify the radio-emitting shell-type supernova remnant G15.9+0.2 as a relatively young remnant containing an X-ray point source that may be its associated neutron star. The integrated spectrum of the remnant shell obtained from our 30 ks exploratory Chandra observation shows very strong lines that require elevated element abundances from ejecta, in particular of sulfur. A plane-shock model fit gives a temperature kT = 0.9 (0.8, 1.0) keV, an ionization timescale n e t = 6 (4, 9) × 10 10 cm -3 s, and a sulfur abundance of 2.1 (1.7, 2.7) times solar (90% confidence limits). Two-component models with one solar and one enriched component are also plausible, but they are not well constrained by the data. Various estimates give a remnant age of order 10 3 yr, which would make G15.9+0.2 among the dozen or so youngest remnants in the Galaxy. The sparse point-source spectrum is consistent with either a steep Γ ~ 4 power law or a kT ~ 0.4 keV blackbody. The spectrum is absorbed by a H column density N H ~ 4 × 10 22 cm -2 similar to that required for the remnant shell. The implied 2-9.5 keV source luminosity is about 10 33 ergs s -1 for an assumed distance of 8.5 kpc consistent with the high absorption column. We suggest that the point source is either a rotation-powered pulsar or a compact central object.