Unbiased spectroscopic study of the Cygnus Loop with LAMOST

  • 발행 : 2018.05.08

초록

We present a spectroscopic study of the Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) Cygnus Loop using the fifth Data Release (DR5) of LAMOST. The LAMOST (Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope) features both a large field-of-view (about 20 deg2) and a large aperture (~4 m in diameter), which allow us to obtain 4000 spectra simultaneously. Its wavelength coverage ranges from ${\sim}3700{\AA}$ to $9000{\AA}$ with a spectral resolution of $R{\approx}1800$. The Cygnus Loop is a prototype of middle-aged SNRs, which has advantages of being bright, large in angular size (${\sim}3.8^{\circ}{\times}3^{\circ}$), and relatively unobscured by dust. Along the line of sight of the Cygnus Loop, 2747 LAMOST DR5 spectra are found in total, which are spatially distributed over the entire remnant. Among them, 778 spectra are selected based on the presence of emission lines (i.e., [O III]${\lambda}5007$, Ha, and [S II]${\lambda}{\lambda}$ 6717, 6731) for further visual inspection. About half of them (336 spectra) show clear spectral features to confirm their association with the remnant, 370 spectra show stellar features only, and 72 spectra are ambiguous and need further investigation. For those associated with the remnant, we identify emission lines and measure their intensities. Spectral properties considerably vary within the remnant, and we compare them with theoretical models to derive physical properties of the SNR such as electron density and temperature, and shock velocity. While some line ratios are in good agreement with model prediction, others cannot be explained by simple shock models with a range of shock velocities. We discuss these discrepancies between model predictions and the observations and finally highlight the powerfulness of the LAMOST data to investigate spatial variations of physical properties of the Cygnus Loop.

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