Published December 20, 2010 | Version v1
Journal article

THE ROLE OF DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION ON NONEQUILIBRIUM IONIZATION IN SUPERNOVA REMNANT SHOCKS. II. EMITTED SPECTRA

  • 1. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  • 2. Physics Department, NC State University, Box 8202, Raleigh, NC 27695 (United States)

Description

We present a grid of nonequilibrium ionization models for the X-ray spectra from supernova remnants undergoing efficient diffusive shock acceleration. The calculation follows the hydrodynamics of the blast wave as well as the time-dependent ionization of the plasma behind the shock. The ionization state is passed to a plasma emissivity code to compute the thermal X-ray emission, which is combined with the emission from nonthermal synchrotron emission to produce a self-consistent model for the thermal and nonthermal emission from cosmic-ray dominated shocks. We show how plasma diagnostics such as the G'-ratio of He-like ions, defined as the ratio of the sum of the intercombination, forbidden, and satellite lines to the resonance line, can vary with acceleration efficiency, and discuss how the thermal X-ray emission, when the time-dependent ionization is not calculated self-consistently with the hydrodynamics, can differ from the thermal X-ray emission from models which do account for the hydrodynamics. Finally, we compare the thermal X-ray emission from models which show moderate acceleration (∼35%) to the thermal X-ray emission from test-particle models.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/725/2/1476

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
725
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. 1476-1484
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOAB