Forbidden coronal iron line emission in the Puppis A shock front: The effect of inhomogeneities

We have obtained CCD images of the shock front at the eastern rim of Puppis A in (Fe X) lambda 6374 and (Fe XIV) lambda 5303 and have compared the optical data to Einstein HRI soft X-ray data. The observed part of the remnant is complex, containing density irregularities. Optical and X-ray data are consistent in showing a nearly flat gradient of ionization behind the shock. To determine conditions in the shock, scans of surface brightness across it in the optical lines were compared to surface brightnesses predicted by idealized Sedov models. We were unable to match both the red and green line scans by a simple, single-component model, and have ascribed the failure to the presence of the density inhomogeneities. Our result has important implications for the determination of SNR shock front models by means of fitting X-ray data with Sedov models.