Simulating anisotropic thermal conduction in supernova remnants - II. Implications for the interstellar medium

We present a large number of 2.5D simulations of supernova remnants expanding into interstellar media having a range of densities, temperatures and magnetic field strengths. The simulations include equilibrium cooling and anisotropic, flux-limited thermal conduction along magnetic field lines. The volume of hot gas produced during the remnant's evolution is shown to be strongly influenced by the inclusion of thermal conduction, supporting prior results by Slavin & Cox and Tilley & Balsara. The magnetic field has also been shown to play an extremely important role in reheating the gas at later epochs when the hot gas bubble collapses on itself. Low-density, strongly magnetized runs show the greatest effect of this reheating. The four-volumes and three-areas of gas with characteristic temperatures that cause it to emit in OVI, OVII and OVIII have also been catalogued and their dependence on interstellar parameters has been documented. The results reveal the importance of magnetic tension forces as well as the anisotropic thermal conduction along field lines for the production of these ions. Simulated luminosities and linewidths of OVI, OVII and OVIII as well as their dosages have been catalogued. Simulated linewidths of radioactive species, Al-26 and Fe-60, ejected by supernovae have also been catalogued and found to be less than 200 km s(-1) for most of the remnants' evolution. These results enable us to understand why INTEGRAL has thus far been unable to detect very large linewidths for these radioactive species in certain star-forming regions.