H i zeeman experiments of shocked atomic gas in two supernova remnants interacting with molecular clouds

Abstract

We have carried out observations of Zeeman splitting of the H I 21cm emission line from shocked atomic gas in the supernova remnants (SNRs) IC 443 and W51C using the Arecibo telescope. The observed shocked atomic gas is expanding at 100kms-1 and this is the first Zeeman experiment of such fast-moving, shocked atomic gas. The emission lines, however, are very broad and the systematic error due to baseline curvature hampers an accurate measurement of field strengths. We derive an upper limit of 100-150 μG on the strength of the line-of-sight field component. These two SNRs are interacting with molecular clouds, but the derived upper limits are considerably smaller than the field strengths expected from a strongly shocked dense cloud. We discuss the implications and conclude that either the magnetic field within the telescope beam is mostly randomly oriented or the high-velocity H I emission is from a shocked interclump medium of relatively low density. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..