Evolutionary Models for 15 Galactic Supernova Remnants with New Distances

Abstract

Recent studies using 21 cm H i line and 13 CO line observations in the inner part of the Galaxy have resulted in new distances for 30 Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs). Of those remnants, 15 have observed X-ray spectra, for which shocked-gas temperatures and emission measures are measured. Here we apply spherically symmetric SNR evolution models to these 15 remnants to obtain estimates for ages, explosion energies, circumstellar medium densities and profiles (uniform or wind-type). From the distribution of ages we obtain a supernova birth rate and estimate incompleteness. The energies and densities can be well fit with log-normal distributions. The distribution of explosion energies is very similar to that of SNRs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), suggesting that SN explosions in the LMC and in the Galaxy are very similar. The density distribution has higher mean density for Galactic SNRs than for LMC SNRs by a factor ∼2.5.