Infrared Supernova Remnants and Their Infrared to X-ray Flux Ratios

Recent high-resolution infrared space missions have revealed supernova remnants (SNRs) of diverse morphology in far infrared (FIR), often very different from their X-ray appearance. This suggests that the FIR emission from SNRs could be of different origins. For a sample of 20 Galactic SNRs, we examine the correlation between their FIR and X-ray properties and explore the origin of the FIR emission. We find that the SNRs with very different FIR and X-ray morphology have relatively large infrared-to-X-ray (IRX) flux ratios. We argue that the FIR emission in these SNRs is likely mainly from dust grains radiatively-heated by shock radiation. For SNRs with similar IR and X-ray morphology, the FIR emission of which is probably mostly from dust grains collisionally heated by hot plasma, we compare their IRX flux ratios with theoretical ratios from a model incorporating time-dependent dust destruction and non-equilibrium ionization cooling behind SNR shock, and discuss the implications of our result.