EVIDENCE FOR THERMAL X-RAY LINE EMISSION FROM THE SYNCHROTRON-DOMINATED SUPERNOVA REMNANT RX J1713.7-3946

Abstract

We report the first detection of thermal X-ray line emission from the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946, the prototype of the small class of synchrotron-dominated SNRs. A softness-ratio map generated using XMM-Newton data shows that faint interior regions are softer than bright shell regions. Using Suzaku and deep XMM-Newton observations, we have extracted X-ray spectra from the softest area, finding clear line features at 1 and ∼1.35 keV. These lines can be best explained as Ne Lyα and Mg Heα from a thermal emission component. Since the abundance ratios of metals to Fe are much higher than solar values in the thermal component, we attribute the thermal emission to reverse-shocked SN ejecta. The measured Mg/Ne, Si/Ne, and Fe/Ne ratios of 2.0–2.6, 1.5–2.0, and <0.05 solar suggest that the progenitor star of RX J1713.7-3946 was a relatively low-mass star (≲20 M⊙), consistent with a previous inference based on the effect of stellar winds of the progenitor star on the surrounding medium. Since the mean blastwave speed of ∼6000 km s−1 (the radius of 9.6 pc divided by the age of 1600 years) is relatively fast compared with other core-collapse SNRs, we propose that RX J1713.7-3946 is a result of an SN Ib/c whose progenitor was a member of an interacting binary. While our analysis provides strong evidence for X-ray line emission, our interpretation of its nature as thermal emission from SN ejecta requires further confirmation especially through future precision spectroscopic measurements using ASTRO-H.