Electron Heating and Cosmic Rays at a Supernova Shock from Chandra X-ray Observations of E0102.2-7219

Abstract

In this Letter we use the unprecedented spatial resolution of the Chandra X-ray Observatory to carry out, for the first time, a measurement of the post-shock electron temperature and proper motion of a young SNR, specifically to address questions about the post-shock partition of energy among electrons, ions, and cosmic rays. The expansion rate, 0.100 +/- 0.025 percent per yr, and inferred age, ~1000 yr, of E0102.2-7219, from a comparison of X-ray observations spanning 20 years, are fully consistent with previous estimates based on studies of high velocity oxygen-rich optical filaments in the remnant. With a radius of 6.4 pc for the blast wave estimated from the Chandra image, our expansion rate implies a blast wave velocity of ~6000 km/s and a range of electron temperatures 2.5 - 45 keV, dependent on the degree of collisionless electron heating. Analysis of the Chandra ACIS spectrum of the immediate post-shock region reveals a thermal plasma with abundances and column density typical of the Small Magellanic Cloud and an electron temperature of 0.4-1 keV. The measured electron temperature is significantly lower than the plausible range above, which can only be reconciled if we assume that a significant fraction of the shock energy, rather than contributing to the heating of the post-shock electrons and ions, has gone into generating cosmic rays.