ALMA Observations of Supernova Remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. II. Non-LTE Analysis of Shock-heated Molecular Clouds

Sano H, Yamane Y, van Loon JT, Furuya K, Fukui Y, Alsaberi RZ, Bamba A, Enokiya R, Filipović MD, Indebetouw R, Inoue T, Kawamura A, Lakićević M, Law CJ, Mizuno N, Murase T, Onishi T, Park S, Plucinsky PP, Rho J, Richards AM, Rowell G, Sasaki M, Seok J, Sharda P, Staveley-Smith L, Suzuki H, Temim T, Tokuda K, Tsuge K, Tachihara K (2023)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Book Volume: 958

Article Number: 53

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/acffbe

Abstract

We present the first compelling evidence of shock-heated molecular clouds associated with the supernova remnant (SNR) N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Using ¹²CO(J = 2-1, 3-2) and ¹³CO(J = 2-1) line emission data taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, we derived the H2 number density and kinetic temperature of eight ¹³CO-detected clouds using the large velocity gradient approximation at a resolution of 3.″5 (∼0.8 pc at the LMC distance). The physical properties of the clouds are divided into two categories: three of them near the shock front show the highest temperatures of ∼50 K with densities of ∼500-700 cm⁻³, while other clouds slightly distant from the SNR have moderate temperatures of ∼20 K with densities of ∼800-1300 cm⁻³. The former clouds were heated by supernova shocks, but the latter were dominantly affected by the cosmic-ray heating. These findings are consistent with the efficient production of X-ray recombining plasma in N49 due to thermal conduction between the cold clouds and hot plasma. We also find that the gas pressure is roughly constant except for the three shock-engulfed clouds inside or on the SNR shell, suggesting that almost no clouds have evaporated within the short SNR age of ∼4800 yr. This result is compatible with the shock-interaction model with dense and clumpy clouds inside a low-density wind bubble.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Konan University / 甲南大学 Japan (JP) National Astronomical Observatory of Japan / 国立天文台(NAOJ) Japan (JP) Astronomical Observatory Belgrade Serbia (RS) University of Virginia (UVA) United States (USA) (US) Gifu University / 岐阜大学 Japan (JP) Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) Japan (JP) University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) United States (USA) (US) Smithsonian Institution United States (USA) (US) SETI Institute United States (USA) (US) University of Manchester United Kingdom (GB) University of Adelaide Australia (AU) University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou) United States (USA) (US) Leiden University Netherlands (NL) University of Western Australia (UWA) Australia (AU) Princeton University United States (USA) (US) University of Tokyo Japan (JP) Nagoya University / 名古屋大学 Japan (JP) University of Keele United Kingdom (GB) University of Western Sydney Australia (AU)

How to cite

APA:

Sano, H., Yamane, Y., van Loon, J.T., Furuya, K., Fukui, Y., Alsaberi, R.Z.,... Tachihara, K. (2023). ALMA Observations of Supernova Remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. II. Non-LTE Analysis of Shock-heated Molecular Clouds. Astrophysical Journal, 958(1). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acffbe

MLA:

Sano, H., et al. "ALMA Observations of Supernova Remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. II. Non-LTE Analysis of Shock-heated Molecular Clouds." Astrophysical Journal 958.1 (2023).

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