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| Paper: |
Chanda Observations of the Eastern Limb of the Vela Supernova Remnant |
| Volume: |
271, Neutron Stars in Supernova Remnants |
| Page: |
407 |
| Authors: |
Plucinsky, P. P.; Smith, R. K.; Edgar, R. J.; Gaetz, T. J.; Slane, P. O.; Blair, W. P.; Townsley, L. K.; Broos, P. S. |
| Abstract: |
We present results from two Chandra ACIS observations of the so-called Vela ``Bullet D'' region on the eastern limb of the Vela supernova remnant. The Bullet D region is a bright X-ray feature, identified by Aschenbach et al. (1995) from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, which protrudes beyond the blast wave on the eastern side of the remnant. It has been suggested that this feature is a fragment of supernova ejecta which is just now pushing beyond the position of the main blast wave. An alternate explanation is that the feature is a ``break-out'' of the shock in which inhomogeneities in the ambient medium cause the shock to be non-spherical. The Chandra image shows a fragmented, filamentary morphology within this region. The Chandra spectra show strong emission lines of O, Ne and Mg. Equilibrium ionization models indicate that the O and Ne abundances are significantly enhanced compared to solar values. However, non-equilibrium ionization models can fit the data with solar O abundances and Ne abundances enhanced by only a factor of two. The Chandra data are more consistent with the shock breakout hypothesis, although they cannot exclude the fragment of ejecta hypothesis. |
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