Spatially resolved spectroscopy of nonthermal X-rays in RX J1713.7-3946 with Chandra

Abstract

The young shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946 has been studied as a suitable target to test the SNR paradigm for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays. We present a spatially resolved spectroscopy of the nonthermal X-ray emission in RX J1713.7-3946 with Chandra. In order to obtain X-ray properties of the filamentary structures and their surrounding regions, we divide the southeastern (SE), southwestern (SW), and northwestern (NW) parts of the SNR into subregions on the typical order of several 10" and extract spectra from each subregion. Their photon indices are significantly different among the subregions with a range of 1.8 < Γ < 3. In the SE part, the clear filaments are harder (Γ ~ 2.0) than the surrounding regions. This is a common feature often observed in young SNRs and naturally interpreted as a consequence of synchrotron cooling. On the other hand, the bright filamentary regions do not necessarily coincide with the hardest regions in the SW and NW parts. We also find the SW filamentary region is rather relatively soft (Γ ~ 2.7). In addition, we find that hard regions with photon indices of 2.0-2.2 exist around the bright emission although they lie in the downstream region and does not appear to be the blast wave shock front. Both two aforementioned characteristic regions in SW are located close to peaks of the interstellar gas. We discuss possible origins of the spatial variation of the photon indices, paying particular attention to the shock-cloud interactions.

8 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in PASJ on May 17, 2018

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• Analytical solutions for energy spectra of electrons accelerated by nonrelativistic shock-waves in shell type supernova remnants
• Observations of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Contour binning: a new technique for spatially-resolved X-ray spectroscopy applied to Cassiopeia A
• Study of Nonthermal Emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946 with Suzaku
• X-ray Measurements of the Particle Acceleration Properties at Inward Shocks in Cassiopeia A
• Expansion measurement of Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7-3946

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• ALMA CO Observations of the Gamma-Ray Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7-3946: Discovery of Shocked Molecular Cloudlets and Filaments at 0.01 pc scales
• Shock-Cloud Interaction in the Southwestern Rim of RX J1713.7$-$3946 Evidenced by Chandra X-ray Observations
• A kinematic study of central compact objects and their host supernova remnants
• NuSTAR observations of the supernova remnant RX J1713.7$-$3946
• Discovery of Shocked Molecular Clouds Associated with the Shell-Type Supernova Remnant RX J0046.5$-$7308 in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Time Variability of Nonthermal X-ray Stripes in Tycho's Supernova Remnant with Chandra
• SRG/eROSITA and XMM-Newton observations of Vela Jr
• Progressive steepening of the SNR RX J1713.7-3946 X-ray spectrum from XMM-Newton to INTEGRAL
• X-ray Hotspots in the Northwest Shell of the Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7$-$3946