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R. N. M. Williams (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
I have taken advantage of the large sample of supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) to conduct an analysis of X-ray emission from LMC SNRs, supplemented by optical and radio observations from collaborators. Issues addressed in this study include the density and clumpiness of the gas inside and immediately outside the remnants; the effects of local interstellar medium (ISM) conditions on the development of the remnants; the distributions of SNR plasma temperatures and the resulting parameters of the hot gas; and, for specific remnants, the relative ratios of thermal, kinetic, magnetic and relativistic energies, and the balance of internal pressures.
Much of this research is a systematic study of energetics and environmental effects for the entire LMC sample of SNRs. I have used ROSAT observations to conduct an X-ray survey of LMC SNRs. The remnants' morphological structure reveals a pattern of increasing visibility of X-rays from, apparently, the interior of an SNR as the SNR becomes larger. From X-ray spectra using these data, I have determined rough temperature ranges and rms densities for the remnants, and derived estimates of thermal energy and pressure. Where possible, complementary optical data are used to determine other physical parameters and correlate these with the SNRs' environments.
I have included two case studies of detailed multiwavelength analyses for individual LMC remnants. In one, I have examined DEM L 316, which appears to have two overlapping shells. Using the correlation of optical and X-ray morphologies, velocity profile, and magnetic field in the overlapping region, I have shown that DEM L 316 consists of two colliding remnants. Another case covered N 11L and N 86, which show breakouts into their surroundings. I compared observations at different wavelengths to build up a complete picture of the consequences of these breakouts on the remnants, and their implications for the surrounding medium.
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is a
s follows:
http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~rosanina/lmcsnr.html