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R. M. Williams, Y.-H. Chu, J. R. Dickel (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana), R. Petre (NASA/GSFC), R. C. Smith (Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory), M. Tavarez (Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) presents a unique opportunity to study a large and varied sample of supernova remnants (SNRs), at a common distance (~50 kpc) and with little interstellar obscuration. These factors allow us to avoid the uncertainties in distances and absorptions that plague the study of Galactic SNRs. Reasonable resolutions can be achieved for LMC SNRs with current instruments in the X-ray, optical, and radio regimes; thus, they can be studied at a level of detail unrivaled by most extragalactic remnants.
LMC remnants cover the range of evolutionary stages, from the newly forming SNR of SN 1987A, to the largest remnant yet known (SNR 0450-709, 104\times75 pc). They arise from both Type I and Type II progenitors, and expand into environments ranging from a stellar-wind bubble to an H{\sc II} complex. This extensive sample allows us to examine SNRs both individually and as a group. We can study specific processes such as the collision of two SNRs (DEML316), SNR breakouts (N11L, N86), the expansion of an SNR in a cloudy medium (N63A), Crab-type SNRs (N158A, N157B), and unusual SNR structures (Honeycomb SNR). More importantly, we can identify common features between SNRs and correlate these with their evolutionary states and environments.
In this poster we present a high-resolution atlas of the X-ray emission from LMC SNRs, and use the X-ray morphologies to examine SNR conditions and structures. We find five types of SNRs in the LMC. While the Peaked Emission SNRs are dominated by a pulsar-powered nebula, and the Irregular SNRs by the details of their environments, the remaining three categories (Shell, Diffuse Face, and Centrally Peaked) seem to represent an evolutionary trend, as shown by their correlation with remnant sizes. We will discuss the intriguing implications of our findings for SNR development and interactions with the interstellar medium.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: rosanina@astro.uiuc.edu