XMM-Newton observation of SNR J0533-7202 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

Aims: We present an X-ray study of the supernova remnant SNR J0533-7202 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and determine its physical characteristics based on its X-ray emission.
Methods: We observed SNR J0533-7202 with XMM-Newton (background flare-filtered exposure times of 18 ks EPIC-pn and 31 ks EPIC-MOS1, EPIC-MOS2). We produced X-ray images of the supernova remnant, performed an X-ray spectral analysis, and compared the results to multi-wavelength studies.
Results: The distribution of X-ray emission is highly non-uniform, with the south-west region much brighter than the north-east. The detected X-ray emission is correlated with the radio emission from the remnant. We determine that this morphology is most likely due to the supernova remnant expanding into a non-uniform ambient medium and not an absorption effect. We estimate the remnant size to be 53.9 (±3.4) × 43.6 (±3.4) pc, with the major axis rotated ~64° east of north. We find no spectral signatures of ejecta emission and infer that the X-ray plasma is dominated by swept up interstellar medium. Using the spectral fit results and the Sedov self-similar solution, we estimate the age of SNR J0533-7202 to be ~17-27 kyr, with an initial explosion energy of (0.09-0.83) × 10⁵¹ erg. We detected an X-ray source located near the centre of the remnant, namely XMMU J053348.2-720233. The source type could not be conclusively determined due to the lack of a multi-wavelength counterpart and low X-ray counts. We found that it is likely either a background active galactic nucleus or a low-mass X-ray binary in the LMC.
Conclusions: We detected bright thermal X-ray emission from SNR J0533-7202 and determined that the remnant is in the Sedov phase of its evolution. The lack of ejecta emission prohibits us from typing the remnant with the X-ray data. Therefore, the likely Type Ia classification based on the local stellar population and star formation history reported in the literature cannot be improved upon.

Based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and NASA.