On the Origin of Radial Magnetic Fields in Young Supernova Remnants

Abstract

We study the radio emission from young supernova remnants by means of 3D numerical MHD simulations of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the shell of the remnant. The computation is carried out in spherical polar coordinates ($r, θ, ϕ$) by using a moving grid technique which allows us to finely resolve the shell. Three-dimensional result shows more turbulent (complex) structures in the mixing region than the two-dimensional result, and the instability is found to deform the reverse shock front. Stokes parameters (I,Q, and U) are computed to study the radio properties of the remnant. The total intensity map shows two distinctive regions (inner and outer shells). The inner shell appears to be complex and turbulent exhibiting loop structures and plumes as a result of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, while the outer shell is faint and laminar due to the shocked uniform ambient magnetic fields. The inner shell resembles the observed radio structure in the main shell of young SNRs, which is evidence that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability is an ongoing process in young SNRs. When only the peculiar components of the magnetic fields generated by the instability are considered, the polarization B-vector in the inner radio shell is preferentially radial with about $20 \sim 50\%$ of fractional polarization which is higher than the observed value. The fractional polarization is lowest in the turbulent inner shell and increases outward, which is attributed to the geometric effect. The polarized intensity is found to be correlated with the total intensity. We demonstrate that the polarized intensity from the turbulent region can dominate over the polarized intensity from the shocked uniform fields if the amplified field is sufficiently strong. Therefore, we conclude that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability can explain the dominant radial magnetic