Time Evolution of the Synchrotron X-Ray Emission in Kepler’s Supernova Remnant: The Effects of Turbulence and Shock Velocity

Abstract

The maximum energy of electrons in supernova remnant (SNR) shocks is typically limited by radiative losses, where the synchrotron cooling time equals the acceleration time. The low speed of shocks in a dense medium increases the acceleration time, leading to lower maximum electron energies and fainter X-ray emissions. However, in Kepler's SNR, an enhanced electron acceleration, which proceeds close to the Bohm limit, occurs in the north of its shell, where the shock is slowed by a dense circumstellar medium (CSM). To investigate whether this scenario still holds at smaller scales, we analyzed the temporal evolution of the X-ray synchrotron flux in filamentary structures using the two deepest Chandra/ACIS X-ray observations, performed in 2006 and 2014. We examined spectra from different filaments, measured their proper motion, and calculated the acceleration to synchrotron timescale ratios. The interaction with the turbulent and dense northern CSM induces competing effects on electron acceleration: on one hand, turbulence reduces the electron mean free path enhancing the acceleration efficiency, and on the other hand, lower shock velocities increase the acceleration timescale. In most filaments, these effects compensate each other, but in one region, the acceleration timescale exceeds the synchrotron timescale, resulting in a significant decrease in nonthermal X-ray emission from 2006 to 2014, indicating fading synchrotron emission. Our findings provide a coherent understanding of the different regimes of electron acceleration observed in Kepler's SNR through various diagnostics.