An Optical Survey of Supernova Remnants in M83

Abstract

Observations of the face-on spiral galaxy M83 (NGC 5236) performed at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile have yielded a catalog of optical supernova remnant (SNR) candidates. These observations were performed with the 4 m Blanco telescope and a prime focus CCD imaging system using narrowband interference filters centered on the light of [S II], Hα, [O III], and red and blue continuum bands. Based on strong relative [S II] : Hα emission, 71 emission nebulae have been identified as SNR candidates. Positions and Hα fluxes of the candidates are presented. Follow-up spectra of 25 of the SNR candidates, also performed at CTIO, have confirmed many of the SNR identifications, although the spectra of a few objects are discrepant, perhaps because of inaccurate aperture placement. In addition, the low mean excitation of M83 H II regions has allowed a separate search for young oxygen-dominated (core collapse) SNRs similar to Cas A in our Galaxy, using [O III] : Hα. This search found a number of the same objects as the [S II] : Hα search, indicating that many of these SNRs have shock velocities in excess of 100 km s-1. However, no bona fide young core-collapse SNRs were detected with this technique, with the possible exception of the independent recovery of SN 1957D, which had been seen previously. We have also attempted to identify optical counterparts for the six historical supernovae that have occurred in M83. Except for SN 1957D, none of the historical supernovae have been detected by this survey. We compare our SNR candidate list against the Chandra X-ray source list of Soria and Wu and identify 15 X-ray sources as likely SNRs, based on positional coincidence within 1''. The sources identified have hardness ratios that are soft compared to the general X-ray source population in M83.