Dynamics of Fe Bubbles in Young Supernova Remnants

Abstract

Observations of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) have revealed the presence of extensive mixing of radioactive material in SN ejecta. The mixing of radioactive material, mostly freshly synthesized Ni, is not complete, which leads to a two-phase SN ejecta structure. The low-density phase consists of Fe bubbles, created by the energy input from radioactive Co and Ni, surrounded by compressed high-density metal-rich ejecta. We report on the theoretical investigation of supernova remnant (SNR) dynamics. with the two-phase SN ejecta. We first present three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of a single Fe bubble immersed in an outer ejecta envelope. We then consider randomly distributed Fe bubbles with an average volume filling fraction of 1/2. We find that the presence of Fe bubbles leads to vigorous turbulence and mixing of Fe with other heavy elements and with the ambient normal-abundance, gas. The turbulent energy can be an order of magnitude larger than in the case of smooth ejecta. A significant fraction of the shocked ejecta is found in narrow filaments and clumps moving with radial velocities larger than the velocity of the forward shock. Observational consequences of the two-phase ejecta on SNR X-ray spectra and images are briefly mentioned.