Chandrasekhar and Sub-Chandrasekhar Models for the X-Ray Emission of Type Ia Supernova Remnants. I. Bulk Properties

Abstract

Type Ia supernovae originate from the explosion of carbon–oxygen white dwarfs in binary systems, but the exact nature of their progenitors remains elusive. The bulk properties of Type Ia supernova remnants, such as the radius and the centroid energy of the Fe Kα blend in the X-ray spectrum, are determined by the properties of the supernova ejecta and the ambient medium. We model the interaction between Chandrasekhar and sub-Chandrasekhar models for Type Ia supernova ejecta and a range of uniform ambient medium densities in one dimension up to an age of 5000 years. We generate synthetic X-ray spectra from these supernova remnant models and compare their bulk properties at different expansion ages with X-ray observations from Chandra and Suzaku. We find that our models can successfully reproduce the bulk properties of most observed remnants, suggesting that Type Ia SN progenitors do not modify their surroundings significantly on scales of a few pc, although more detailed models are required to establish quantitative limits on the density of any such surrounding circumstellar material. Ambient medium density and expansion age are the main contributors to the diversity of the bulk properties in our models. Chandrasekhar and sub-Chandrasekhar progenitors make similar predictions for the bulk remnant properties, but detailed fits to X-ray spectra have the power to discriminate explosion energetics and progenitor scenarios.