Supernova Remnant Shocks in an Inhomogeneous Interstellar Medium

Abstract

The inhomogeneity of the interstellar medium (ISM) has a profound effect on the propagation of the interstellar shock generated by a supernova and on the appearance of the resulting supernova remnant (SNR). Low mass supernovae produce remnants that interact with the “pristine” ISM, which has density inhomogeneities (clouds) on a wide range of scales. The shock compresses and accelerates the clouds it encounters; inside the blast wave, the clouds are hydrodynamically unstable, and mass is injected from the clouds into the intercloud medium. Embedded clouds interact thermally with the shock also, adding mass to the hot intercloud medium via thermal evaporation or subtracting it via condensation and thermal instability. Mass injection into the hot intercloud medium, whether dynamical or thermal, leads to infrared emission as dust mixes with the hot gas and is thermally sputtered. The remnants of massive supernovae interact primarily with circumstellar matter and with interstellar material which has been processed by the ionizing radiation and wind of the progenitor star. After passing through any circumstellar material which may be present, the shock encounters a cavity which tends to “muffle” the SNR. The remnants of massive supernovae therefore tell us more about the late stages of the evolution of massive stars than about the ISM.