Interpretation of the number versus diameter distribution for supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud

An examination is conducted of the cumulative number versus diameter relation for an X-ray selected sample of supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud in an attempt to understand the evolutionary state of these objects. Previous studies have suggested that the observed linear N(D) relation requires the remnants in the cloud to be freely expanding. Detailed calculations have been carried out to determine the effect of a luminosity threshold on the observed distribution and it is shown that the observations can be fitted by remnants which are in the adiabatic or later stages of evolution. The implications of the results for the supernova creation rate in the LMC are discussed.