Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...18111503c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting, #115.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.1302
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We have obtained ROSAT observations of N44, one of the largest H II complexes in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It contains a prominent shell structure with small compact H II regions and additional faint shell structures on its periphery. Three OB associations have been identified in N44 (Lucke & Hodge 1970, AJ, 75, 171). The Einstein X-ray survey of the LMC shows that N44 is a bright, diffuse, X-ray source (L_x ~ 10(36) erg s(-1) ) second only to 30 Dor in the LMC (Chu & Mac Low 1990, ApJ, 365, 510; Wang & Helfand 1991, ApJ, 373, 497). However, no supernova remnants (SNRs) have yet been confirmed here because of the lack of nonthermal radio emission (Milne, Caswell, & Haynes 1980, MNRAS, 191, 469). We obtained a 9.5 ksec pointed observation of N44 using the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter. The high sensitivity and spatial resolution show the detailed structure of the diffuse X-rays in N44. We can divide the X-ray emission into several regions, identify their optical counterparts, and analyze their physical natures individually. We have modeled the X-ray emission from three shells in N44 as either SNRs or hot superbubble interiors, using optically derived properties. The simplest region that we analyzed is a faint shell at the outskirts of N44. Its X-ray properties and optical morphology suggest that it is a traditional SNR that has escaped the previous surveys because of the confusion from the prominent main shell in N44. The main shell in N44, Shell 1, is a superbubble blown by the OB association LH47, but has an X-ray luminosity much higher than predicted by the superbubble model. Shell 2, a large faint shell to the west of Shell 1, has a low X-ray surface brightness, but still has an X-ray luminosity exceeding that expected from the optical superbubble. The X-ray emission from both of these shells can be produced by members of the silent majority of SNRs hidden in low density regions such as superbubbles.
Chu Y.-H. Y.-H.
Garcia-Segura Guillermo
Mac Low Mordecai-Mar
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