Highly clumpy structure of the thermal composite supernova remnant 3C 391 unveiled by Chandra

The nature of the internal thermal X-ray emission seen in “thermal composite” supernova remnants is still uncertain. Chandra observation of the 3C391 shows a southeast-northwest elongated morphology and unveils a highly clumpy structure of the remnant. Detailed spatially resolved spectral analysis for the small-scale features reveals normal metal abundance and uniform temperature for the interior gas. The properties of the hot gas comparatively favor the cloudlet evaporation model as a main mechanism for the “thermal composite” X-ray appearance, though radiative rim and thermal conduction may also be effective. A faint protrusion is found in Si and S lines out of the southwest radio border.