We present new Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) radio-continuum and XMM-Newton/Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) observations of the unusual supernova remnant HFPK 334 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The remnant follows a shell type morphology in the radio-continuum and has a size of ∼20~pc at the SMC distance. The X-ray morphology is similar, however, we detect a prominent point source close to the center of the SNR exhibiting a spectrum with a best fit powerlaw with a photon index of Γ=2.7±0.5. This central point source is most likely a background object and cannot be directly associated with the remnant. The high temperature, nonequilibrium conditions in the diffuse region suggest that this gas has been recently shocked and point toward a younger SNR with an age of ≲1800 years. With an average radio spectral index of α=−0.59±0.09 we find that an equipartition magnetic field for the remnant is ∼90~μG, a value typical of younger SNRs in low-density environments. Also, we report detection of scattered radio polarisation across the remnant at 20~cm, with a peak fractional polarisation level of 25±5\%.
@article{arxiv.1405.7788,
title = {HFPK 334: An unusual Supernova Remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud},
author = {E. J. Crawford and M. D. Filipović and R. L. McEntaffer and T. Brantseg and K. Heitritter and Q. Roper and F. Haberl and D. Urosević},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1405.7788},
year = {2015}
}