Completing the X-ray view of the recently discovered supernova remnant G53.41+0.03^★

¹ Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
e-mail: vdomcek@gmail.com
² GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
³ SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands
⁴ School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, PR China
⁵ Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

Received: 6 May 2021
Accepted: 7 January 2022

Abstract

Aims. We present a detailed X-ray study of the recently discovered supernova remnant (SNR) G53.41+0.03, which follows up and further expands on the previous, limited analysis of archival data covering a small portion of the SNR.

Methods. With the new dedicated 70 ks XMM-Newton observation we investigate the morphological structure of the SNR in X-rays, search for a presence of a young neutron star, and characterise the plasma conditions in the selected regions by means of spectral fitting.

Results. The first full view of SNR G53.41+0.03 shows an X-ray emission region well aligned with the reported half-shell radio morphology. We find two distinct regions of the remnant that differ in terms of the brightness and hardness of the spectra, and both regions are best characterised by a hot plasma model in a non-equilibrium ionisation state. Of the two regions, the brighter one contains the most mature plasma, with ionisation age τ ≈ 4 × 10¹⁰ s cm⁻³ (where τ = n_et), a lower electron temperature of kT_e ≈ 1 keV, and the highest estimated gas density, n_H ≈ 0.87 cm⁻³. The second, fainter but spectrally harder, region reveals a younger plasma (τ ≈ 1.7 × 10¹⁰ s cm⁻³) with a higher temperature (kT_e ≈ 2 keV) and a two to three times lower density (n_H ≈ 0.34 cm⁻³). No clear evidence of X-ray emission was found for emission from a complete shell, the southern part appearing to be absent. Employing several methods for age estimation, we find the remnant to be t ≈ 1000–5000 yr old, confirming earlier reports of a relatively young age. The environment of the remnant also contains a number of point sources, most of which are expected to be positioned in the foreground. Of the two point sources in the geometrical centre of the remnant, one is consistent with the characteristics of a young neutron star.