Upper limits of 44Ti decay emission in four nearby thermonuclear supernova remnants

Abstract

ABSTRACT To identify progenitors and investigate evidence of He burning, we searched for decay radiation of freshly synthesized 44Ti in four young nearby thermonuclear supernova remnants: Kepler, SN 1885, G1.9+0.3, and SN 1006, by analysing the up-to-date NuSTAR archival data. No apparent flux excess from the 68 and 78 keV line emissions accompanying decay was detected above the power-law continuum applied for the remnants and the absorbed stray light. By comparing the inferred upper limits of the line flux and the initial 44Ti masses with a wide variety of supernova nucleosynthesis models, we placed constraints on the supernova progenitors. We derived the first NuSTAR line flux upper limit for Kepler and ruled out most of the double-detonation scenarios with a thick He layer under low density. We estimated, for the first time, the upper limit for SN 1885, which is high because of the large distance, yet still remains consistent with the He shell detonation. The new flux and mass limit of G1.9+0.3 derived from a longer total exposure is lower than the results from previous studies and evidently excludes explosive burning of He-rich matter. The relatively advanced age and the large spatial extent of SN 1006 have prevented meaningful constraints.