A&A 629, A51 (2019) Astronomy https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936002 & c ESO 2019 Astrophysics Spatially resolved X-ray study of supernova remnants that host magnetars: Implication of their fossil field origin Ping Zhou1,2, Jacco Vink1,3,4 , Samar Safi-Harb5, and Marco Miceli6,7 1 Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94249, 1090 Amsterdam, The Netherlands e-mail:
[email protected] 2 School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, PR China 3 GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94249, 1090 Amsterdam, The Netherlands 4 SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 Utrecht, The Netherlands 5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada 6 Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica E. Segrè, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy 7 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Received 1 June 2019 / Accepted 15 July 2019 ABSTRACT Magnetars are regarded as the most magnetized neutron stars in the Universe. Aiming to unveil what kinds of stars and supernovae can create magnetars, we have performed a state-of-the-art spatially resolved spectroscopic X-ray study of the supernova remnants (SNRs) Kes 73, RCW 103, and N49, which host magnetars 1E 1841−045, 1E 161348−5055, and SGR 0526−66, respectively. The three SNRs are O- and Ne-enhanced and are evolving in the interstellar medium with densities of >1−2 cm−3. The metal composition and dense environment indicate that the progenitor stars are not very massive. The progenitor masses of the three magnetars are constrained to be <20 M (11–15 M for Kes 73, .13 M for RCW 103, and ∼13−17 M for N49).