X-ray Eying Supernova Remnants to Probe their Supernova Engine

Core-collapse explosions of massive stars have been studied theoretically and observationally for more than half a century. In more recent years, their study has been motivating multi-messenger, collaborative interdisciplinary efforts involving the multi-wavelength, cosmic rays, gravitational wave and neutrinos communities. These energetic events are believed to give birth to neutron stars, and in some cases black holes, and in the process accelerate particles to very high energies while also ejecting freshly synthesized heavy elements into their surroundings. While we have made excellent progress towards developing tools to connect supernovae to their engines, we still do not fully understand many of their fundamental properties, such as: (1) the birth properties and manifestation of their collapsed cores, (2) their explosion energies and binary channel origins, (3) the composition and distribution of their nucleosynthesis products, and (4) whether they truly house PeVatron accelerators. There is also clearly a disconnect between some aspects of theory and high-energy observations for all of these fundamental venues. In this review, I highlight progress and constraints placed on the core-collapse supernova engine through X-ray eying their housing supernova remnants and associated compact objects’ zoo. I conclude with an outlook for future investigations driving the science for planned or proposed X-ray missions for the next decade.