The oldest X-ray supernovae: X-ray emission from 1941C, 1959D, 1968D

Abstract

We have studied the X-ray emission from four historical Type-II supernovae (the newly-discovered 1941C in NGC 4631 and 1959D in NGC 7331; and 1968D, 1980K in NGC 6946), using Chandra ACIS-S imaging. In particular, the first three are the oldest ever found in the X-ray band, and provide constraints on the properties of the stellar wind and circumstellar matter encountered by the expanding shock at more advanced stages in the transition towards the remnant phase. We estimate emitted luminosities ~ 5 x 10^{37} erg/s for SN 1941C, ~ a few x 10^{37} erg/s for SN 1959D, ~ 2 x 10^{38} erg/s for SN 1968D, and ~ 4 x 10^{37} erg/s for SN 1980K, in the 0.3-8 keV band. X-ray spectral fits to SN 1968D suggest the presence of a harder component, possibly a power law with photon index ~ 2, contributing ~ 10^{37} erg/s in the 2-10 keV band. We speculate that it may be evidence of non-thermal emission from a Crab-like young pulsar.

arXiv comment6 pages, accepted by ApJ. Revised version with a couple of added references. Thanks to A. Kong and E. Schlegel for their comments. Credit to Holt et al. (2003) for the X-ray discovery of SN 1968D, overlooked in other recent catalogs

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• A new analysis of the short-duration, hard-spectrum GRB 051103, a possible extragalactic SGR giant flare
• Stellar Binary Companions to Supernova Progenitors
• Recovery of the Historical SN1957D in X-rays with Chandra
• Evidence for a Black Hole Remnant in the Type IIL Supernova 1979C
• The Impact of Progenitor Mass Loss on the Dynamical and Spectral Evolution of Supernova Remnants
• Investigating the nuclear activity of barred spiral galaxies: the case of NGC 1672
• A Search for Infrared Emission from Core-Collapse Supernovae at the Transitional Phase
• From Supernova to Remnant: Tracking the Evolution of the Oldest Known X-ray Supernovae
• Archives of Photographic PLates for Astronomical USE (APPLAUSE) Digitisation of astronomical plates and their integration into the International Virtual Observatory
• Hot gas and magnetic arms of NGC 6946: indications for reconnection heating?
• Detection of Late-Time Optical Emission from SN 1941C in NGC 4136
• X-ray Luminosity of Decades-Old Supernovae