A ROSAT upper limit on X-ray emission from SN 1992A

Abstract

We have used the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter on ROSAT to search for X-ray emission from the Type Ia supernova 1992A in NGC 1380 about 16 days after the outburst maximum. No X-ray emission is present to a flux of about 4 x 10 exp -14 ergs/s cm, which corresponds to a 0.5-2 keV luminosity 99 percent upper limit of about 3-5 x 10 exp 38 ergs/s. This implies a presupernova mass-loss rate of less than a few x 10 exp -6 solar mass/yr. This is the most sensitive upper limit, by several orders of magnitude, yet obtained for a Type Ia supernova.