English

Time Variability of Nonthermal X-ray Stripes in Tycho's Supernova Remnant with Chandra

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2020-05-11 v4

Abstract

Analyzing Chandra data of Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR) taken in 2000, 2003, 2007, 2009, and 2015, we search for time variable features of synchrotron X-rays in the southwestern part of the SNR, where stripe structures of hard X-ray emission were previous found. By comparing X-ray images obtained at each epoch, we discover a knot-like structure in the northernmost part of the stripe region became brighter particularly in 2015. We also find a bright filamentary structure gradually became fainter and narrower as it moved outward. Our spectral analysis reveal that not only the nonthermal X-ray flux but also the photon indices of the knot-like structure change from year to year. During the period from 2000 to 2015, the small knot shows brightening of 70%\sim 70\% and hardening of ΔΓ0.45\Delta \Gamma \sim 0.45. The time variability can be explained if the magnetic field is amplified to 100 μG\sim 100~\mathrm{\mu G} and/or if magnetic turbulence significantly changes with time.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2003.10035,
  title  = {Time Variability of Nonthermal X-ray Stripes in Tycho's Supernova Remnant with Chandra},
  author = {Tomoyuki Okuno and Takaaki Tanaka and Hiroyuki Uchida and Felix A. Aharonian and Yasunobu Uchiyama and Takeshi Go Tsuru and Masamune Matsuda},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.10035},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ