A Chandra X-ray study of supernova remnant N63A in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We perform extensive spectroscopy of the supernova remnant N63A in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using similar to 43 ks Chandra archival data. By analysing the spectra of the entire remnant, we determine the abundance distributions for O, Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe. We detect evidence of enhanced O and possibly Ne and Mg in some of the central regions which might indicate an asymmetric distribution of the ejecta. The average O/Ne, O/Mg, and Ne/Mg abundance ratios of the ejecta are in plausible agreement with the nucleosynthesis products from the explosion of a similar to 40 M-circle dot progenitor. We estimate an upper limit on the Sedov age of similar to 5400 +/- 200 yr and explosion energy of similar to 8.9 +/- 1.6 x 10(51) erg for N63A. We discuss the implications of our results for the morphological structure of the remnant, its circumstellar medium, and the nature of the progenitor star.