Supernova Remnants as Clues to Their Progenitors

Abstract

Supernovae shape the interstellar medium, chemically enrich their host galaxies, and generate powerful interstellar shocks that drive future generations of star formation. The shock produced by a supernova event acts as a type of time machine, probing the mass loss history of the progenitor system back to ages of $\sim$ 10 000 years before the explosion, whereas supernova remnants probe a much earlier stage of stellar evolution, interacting with material expelled during the progenitor's much earlier evolution. In this chapter we will review how observations of supernova remnants allow us to infer fundamental properties of the progenitor system. We will provide detailed examples of how bulk characteristics of a remnant, such as its chemical composition and dynamics, allow us to infer properties of the progenitor evolution. In the latter half of this chapter, we will show how this exercise may be extended from individual objects to SNR as classes of objects, and how there are clear bifurcations in the dynamics and spectral characteristics of core collapse and thermonuclear supernova remnants. We will finish the chapter by touching on recent advances in the modeling of massive stars, and the implications for observable properties of supernovae and their remnants.

A chapter in "Handbook of Supernovae" edited by Athem W. Alsabti and Paul Murdin (18 pages, 6 figures)

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• From supernova to supernova remnant: comparison of thermonuclear explosion models
• Chandrasekhar and sub-Chandrasekhar models for the X-ray emission of Type Ia supernova remnants (I): Bulk properties
• Spatially Resolved X-ray Spectroscopy of Kepler's Supernova Remnant: Distinct Properties of the Circumstellar Medium and the Ejecta
• Discovery of $\sim$2200 new supernova remnants in 19 nearby star-forming galaxies with MUSE spectroscopy
• An XMM-Newton X-ray View of Supernova Remnant W49B: Revisiting its Recombining Plasmas and Progenitor Type
• The two most recent thermonuclear supernovae in the Local Group: radio constraints on their progenitors and evolution