Australia Telescope Compact Array observations for project C3688 semester 2025OCTS

Full description

Supernova remnants (SNRs) drive interstellar turbulence and play an important role in the dynamic evolution of the Galaxy. Currently, there are about 300 known SNRs, and the number is far from complete. New surveys by JVLA, MeerKAT and ASKAP have found more than 400 SNR candidates, and the ongoing surveys by MeerKAT and ASKAP will find more. Confirming these candidates is now a pressing issue. We propose to observe a sample of small angular-size SNR candidates from the MeerKAT Galactic plane survey at C band with ATCA to observe their total intensity and polarization images. We will then derive the spectra of these SNR candidates with the C-band and MeerKAT images. The spectra, together with the polarization, will enable us to confirm these SNR candidates and obtain a confirmed SNR sample. This sample will help us assess the true number of SNRs in the Galaxy. The sample, containing mainly young SNRs, will also help to investigate the potential of SNRs being TeV-PeV accelerators.