G272.2 - 3.2 is a supernova remnant ( SNR ) characterized by an apparent centrally brightened X-ray morphology and thermally dominated X-ray emission .
Because of this combination of Sedov-type ( thermal emission ) and non-Sedov type ( non-shell like morphology ) features , the remnant is classified as a “ thermal composite ” SNR .
This class of remnant is still poorly understood due in part to the difficulties in modeling accurately all the physical conditions which shape the emission morphology . In this paper we present a combined analysis of data from the ASCA and ROSAT satellites coupled with previous results at other wavelengths .
We find that the X-ray emission from G272.2 - 3.2 is best described by a non-equilibrium ionization ( NEI ) model with a temperature around 0.70 keV , an ionization timescale of 3200 cm ^ { -3 } yr and a relatively high column density ( N _ { H } \sim 10 ^ { 22 } atoms cm ^ { -2 } ) .
We look into the possible explanations for the apparent morphology of G272.2 - 3.2 using several models ( among which both cloud evaporation and thermal conduction models ) .
For each of the models considered we examine all the implications on the evolution of G272.2 - 3.2 .