Brightening and Fading in the Youngest Galactic Supernova Remnant G1.9+0.3: 13 Years of Monitoring with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Abstract

We report 13 years of Chandra monitoring of the youngest Galactic supernova remnant G1.9+0.3, the only remnant known to be increasing in brightness. We confirm the spatially integrated rate of flux increase of (1.2 ± 0.2)% yr−1 (1–7 keV), but find large spatial variations, from −3% yr−1 to +7% yr−1, over length scales as small as 10″ or smaller. We observe relatively little change in spectral slope, though one region shows significant hardening as it brightens by 1% yr−1. Such rates of change can be accommodated by any of several explanations, including steady blast-wave evolution, expansion or compression of discrete plasma blobs, magnetic turbulence, or variations in magnetic-field aspect angle. Our results do not constrain the mean magnetic-field strength, but a self-consistent picture can be produced in which the maximum particle energies are limited by the remnant age (applying both to electrons and to ions) to about 20 TeV, and the remnant-averaged magnetic-field strength is about 30 μG. The deceleration parameter m (average shock radius varying as t m ) is about 0.7, consistent with estimates from overall expansion dynamics and confirming an explosion date of about 1900 CE. Shock-efficiency factors ϵ e and ϵ B (fractions of shock energy in relativistic electrons and magnetic field) are 0.003 and 0.0002 in this picture. However, the large range of rates of brightness change indicates that such a global model is oversimplified. Temporal variations of photon index, expected to be small but measurable with longer time baselines, can discriminate among possible models.