We perform detailed spectroscopy of the X-ray brightest supernova remnant ( SNR ) in the Large Magellanic Cloud ( LMC ) , N132D , using Chandra archival observations .
By analyzing the spectra of the entire well-defined rim , we determine the mean abundances for O , Ne , Mg , Si , S and Fe for the local LMC environment .
We find evidence of enhanced O on the north-western and S on the north-eastern blast wave .
By analyzing spectra interior to the remnant , we confirm the presence of a Si-rich relatively hot plasma ( \ga 1.5 \mathrm { keV } ) that is also responsible for the Fe K emission . Chandra images show that the Fe K emission is distributed throughout the interior of the southern half of the remnant but does not extend out to the blast wave .
We estimate the progenitor mass to be 15 \pm 5 M _ { \odot } using abundance ratios in different regions that collectively cover a large fraction of the remnant , as well as from the radius of the forward shock compared with models of an explosion in a cavity created by stellar winds .
We fit ionizing and recombining plasma models to the Fe K emission and find that the current data can not distinguish between the two , hence the origin of the high-temperature plasma remains uncertain .
Our analysis is consistent with N132D being the result of a core-collapse supernova in a cavity created by its intermediate mass progenitor .