Type Ia supernova remnants: shaping by iron bullets

Abstract

Using 2D numerical hydrodynamical simulations of Type Ia supernova remnants (SNR Ia) we show that iron clumps few times denser than the rest of the SN ejecta might form protrusions in an otherwise spherical SNR. Such protrusions exist in some SNR Ia, e.g. SNR 1885 and Tycho. Iron clumps are expected to form in the deflagration to detonation explosion model. In SNR Ia where there are two opposite protrusions, termed ‘ears’, such as Kepler's SNR and SNR G1.9+0.3, our scenario implies that the dense clumps, or iron bullets, were formed along an axis. Such a preferred axis can result from a rotating white dwarf progenitor. If our claim holds, this offers an important clue to the SN Ia explosion scenario.