Salvatore Orlando, INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Italy — December 15, 2025

Core-collapse supernova remnants (SNRs) offer a powerful diagnostic of massive-star evolution and explosion physics. Their complex morphologies and chemical inhomogeneities retain signatures of the supernova (SN) engine, including asymmetries, nucleosynthetic yields, and compact-object formation. In young remnants (<5000 years), the debris still preserves this early "memory", while the large-scale structure reflects interactions with the circumstellar medium (CSM) shaped by the progenitor's mass loss and, potentially, binary evolution. Studying SNRs is therefore essential not only for understanding SN physics and the mechanisms that trigger explosion, but also for probing the final fate of massive stars and the poorly understood processes governing late-stage mass loss.

In this talk, I will review recent advances in modeling young to middle-aged core-collapse SNRs, drawing on observationally motivated simulations of neutrino-driven explosions that follow the evolution from core collapse to ages of thousands of years. I will focus on well-studied remnants such as Cassiopeia A (where JWST has revealed unprecedented details) as well as SN 1987A and its emerging compact remnant, and extragalactic cases like SN 2014C that highlight the diversity of CSM environments and progenitor pathways. I will also briefly discuss additional remnants, including IC 443 and others, that provide complementary perspectives on shock physics, particle acceleration, and stellar feedback.

Finally, I will outline the growing potential of current and future observational facilities (e.g., JWST, newAthena, HUBS, and the Line Emission Mapper), which will enable detailed mapping of ejecta composition, temperature, and dynamics across many remnants, strengthening links between simulations and observations and advancing our understanding of how massive stars end their lives.