Typing Supernova Remnants Using X-ray Line Emission Morphologies

Laura A. Lopez, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, Carles Badenes, Daniela Huppenkothen, Tesla E. Jeltema, David A. Pooley

Published 2009-10-19Version 1

We present a new observational method to type the explosions of young supernova remnants (SNRs). By measuring the morphology of the Chandra X-ray line emission in seventeen Galactic and Large Magellanic Cloud SNRs with a multipole expansion analysis (using power ratios), we find that the core-collapse SNRs are statistically more asymmetric than the Type Ia SNRs. We show that the two classes of supernovae can be separated naturally using this technique because X-ray line morphologies reflect the distinct explosion mechanisms and structure of the circumstellar material. These findings are consistent with recent spectropolarimetry results showing that core-collapse SNe are intrinsically more asymmetric.