Faculty Research at Morehead State University
 

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-5-2017

Abstract

We present an analysis of X-ray observations made with ASCA and XMM-Newton of the Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G311.5−0.3. Prior infrared and radio observations of this SNR have revealed a shell-like morphology at both wavelengths. The spectral index of the radio emission is consistent with synchrotron emission, while the infrared colors are consistent with emission from shocked molecular hydrogen. Also previous CO observations have indicated an interaction between G311.5−0.3 and an adjacent molecular cloud. Our previous analysis of the pointed ASCA observation made of this SNR detected X-ray emission from the source for the first time but lacked the sensitivity and the angular resolution to rigorously investigate its X-ray properties. We have analyzed an archival XMM-Newton observation that included G311.5−0.3 in the field of view: this is the first time that XMM-Newton data has been used to probe the X-ray properties of this SNR. The XMM-Newton observation confirms that the X-ray emission from G311.5−0.3 is centrally concentrated and supports the classification of this source as a mixed-morphology SNR. In addition, our joint fitting of extracted ASCA and XMM-Newton spectra favor a thermal origin for the X-ray emission over a non-thermal origin. The spectral fitting parameters for our TBABS×APEC fit to the extracted spectra are N H = 4.63+1.87 −0.85×1022 cm−2 and kT = 0.68+0.20 −0.24 keV. From these fit parameters, we derive the following values for physical parameters of the SNR: ne = 0.20 cm−3, np = 0.17 cm−3, MX = 21.4 M and P/k = 3.18×106 K cm−3.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.