A detailed look at the thermal and nonthermal X-ray emission from the Vela supernova remnant with SRG/eROSITA
- Details
- Published on 09 August 2023
Vol. 676
6. Insterstallar and circumstellar matter
A detailed look at the thermal and nonthermal X-ray emission from the Vela supernova remnant with SRG/eROSITA

The Vela supernova remnant, along with its embedded pulsar (and associated nebula), is fundamental to our understanding of how supernovae affect their surroundings. This study exploits of the broad field of view of eROSITA -- the authors produced a 15 deg x 15 deg mosaicked field for this study -- and its high energy resolution -- about 5% at 1.5 keV -- to dissect the abundance distribution of matter within and surrounding the remnant; at a distance of only 0.3 kpc, 0.1 arcmin binning yields a spatial resolution of about 0.04 pc in the range 0.2 - 2.3 keV. Individual regions as small as 0.1 deg are spectrally resolved, permitting the abundance variation for N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe to be mapped. This high resolution also allows the thermal and chemical structure of individual high-speed fragments, called shrapnel, and the diffuse, shocked matter within the remnant to be determined. The authors compare several emission models, adopting a two-temperature thermal plasma (around 0.2 and 0.6 keV) and a nonthermal source. The authors also provide an extensive comparison with multiwavelength observations and include discussions of the pulsar wind nebula and the complex environment in which the supernova remnant is situated. This study provides a sort of "prolegomena," a benchmark dataset for any modeling of the interaction of supernova ejecta with the surrounding interstellar medium.