The Aftermath of Stellar Explosions: Chandra Studies of Supernova Remnants

The energetic relics of supernova explosions are reservoirs of enormous amounts of energy. The rapid shocks in supernova remnants heat circumstellar and ejecta material to extremely high temperatures, providing X-ray signatures that carry a wealth of information about heating and ionization in collisionless shocks, the density distribution of the postshock material, and the composition of the ejecta. The remnants can also act as particle accelerators, producing electron and ion populations with energies exceeding many tens of TeV, probably contributing the majority of Galactic cosmic rays.

With its high angular resolution and spatially-resolved spectroscopy capabilities, Chandra provides unique probes of the structure and evolution of SNRs that reveal insights into the stellar progenitors, properties of the explosions, and the physics of particle acceleration. In this talk I will provide highlights of Chandra contributions to SNR science over the course of the mission, and describe ongoing and future studies of these systems.