Supernova Remnants in High Definition

Laura A. Lopez, Brian J. Williams, Samar Safi-Harb, Sangwook Park, Paul P. Plucinsky, David Pooley, Tea Temim, Katie Auchettl, Aya Bamba, Carles Badenes, Daniel Castro, Kristen Garofali, Denis Leahy, Patrick Slane, Jacco Vink, Benjamin F. Williams, J. Craig Wheeler

Published 2019-03-22Version 1

Supernova remnants (SNRs) offer the means to study SN explosions, dynamics, and shocks at sub-parsec scales. X-ray observations probe the hot metals synthesized in the explosion and the TeV electrons accelerated by the shocks, and thus they are key to test recent, high-fidelity three-dimensional SN simulations. In this white paper, we discuss the major advances possible with X-ray spectro-imaging at arcsecond scales, with a few eV spectral resolution and a large effective area. These capabilities would revolutionize SN science, offering a three-dimensional view of metals synthesized in explosions and enabling population studies of SNRs in Local Group galaxies. Moreover, this future X-ray mission could detect faint, narrow synchrotron filaments and shock precursors that will constrain the diffusive shock acceleration process.