Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userDirect Confirmation of the Asymmetry of the Cas A Supernova with Light Echoes
99
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We report the first detection of asymmetry in a supernova (SN) photosphere based on SN light echo (LE) spectra of Cas A from the different perspectives of dust concentrations on its LE ellipsoid. New LEs are reported based on difference images, and optical spectra of these LEs are analyzed and compared. After properly accounting for the effects of finite dust-filament extent and inclination, we find one field where the He I and H alpha features are blueshifted by an additional ~4000 km/s relative to other spectra and to the spectra of the Type IIb SN 1993J. That same direction does not show any shift relative to other Cas A LE spectra in the Ca II near-infrared triplet feature. We compare the perspectives of the Cas A LE dust concentrations with recent three-dimensional modeling of the SN remnant (SNR) and note that the location having the blueshifted He I and H alpha features is roughly in the direction of an Fe-rich outflow and in the opposite direction of the motion of the compact object at the center of the SNR. We conclude that Cas A was an intrinsically asymmetric SN. Future LE spectroscopy of this object, and of other historical SNe, will provide additional insight into the connection of explosion mechanism to SN to SNR, as well as give crucial observational evidence regarding how stars explode.
rate research
Read More
We present the measurement of the size and surface brightness of the expanding light echoes from supernova (SN) 2014J in the nearby starburst galaxy M82. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ACS/WFC images were taken ~277 and ~416 days (after the time of B-band maximum light) in the filters F475W, F606W, and F775W, each combined with the three polarizing filters: POL0V, POL60V, and POL120V. The two epochs imaging reveals the time evolution of at least two major echoes. Three concentric bright regions between position angles (PA, 0^{circ} from North, counterclockwise). 80^{circ} ~ 170^{circ} have projected radius of 0.60 on the sky on ~277 days and expanding to 0.75 on ~416 days, corresponding to scattering materials at a foreground distance of 222pm37 pc. Another fainter but evident light echo extending over a wide range of PA has radii of 0.75 and 0.96 on ~277 and ~416 days. This corresponds to scattering material at a foreground distance of 367pm61 pc. Multiple light echoes with S/N > 2.5 reside at smaller radii on ~277 days but become less significant on ~416 days indicating a complex structure of foreground interstellar medium (ISM). The light echo shows bluer color than predicted under a Rayleigh scattering case. We also found the light echo brightened from V_{echo}=21.68pm0.07 on 2014 September 5, to V_{echo}=21.05pm0.08 on 2014 November 6, suggesting an enhancement of echoing materials at different distances projected on to the plane of the sky.
We compare the diversity of spectral line velocities in a large sample of type IIb supernovae (SNe IIb) with the expected asphericity in the explosion, as measured from the light echoes of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), which was a historical galactic SN IIb. We revisit the results of Rest et al. (2011a), who used light echoes to observe Cas A from multiple lines of sight and hence determine its asphericity, as seen in the velocity of three spectral lines (He I $lambda$5876, H$alpha$ and the Ca II NIR triplet). We confirm and improve on this measurement by reproducing the effect of the light echoes in the spectra of several extragalactic SNe IIb found in the literature as well as mean SN IIb spectra recently created by Liu et al. (2016), and comparing these to the observed light echo spectra of Cas A, including their associated uncertainties. In order to quantify the accuracy of this comparison we smooth the light echo spectra of Cas A using Gaussian processes and use a Monte Carlo method to measure the absorption velocities of these three features in the spectra. We then test the hypothesis that the diversity of ejecta velocities seen in SNe IIb can be explained by asphericity. We do this by comparing the range of velocities seen in the different light echoes, and hence different lines of sight, of Cas A to that seen in the population of SNe IIb. We conclude that these two ranges are of the same order and thus asphericity could be enough to explain the diversity in the expansion velocity alone.
We present the analysis of four hours of spectroscopic observations of NGC 6946 with the SITELLE Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, acquired to search for supernova light echoes from its ten modern supernovae. We develop a novel spectroscopic search method: identifying negatively sloped continua in the narrow-band SN3 filter as candidate highly-broadened P-Cygni profiles in the H$alpha$ line, which would be characteristic of the spectra of supernovae ejecta. We test our methodology by looking for light echoes from any of the ten supernovae observed in NGC 6946 in the past 100 years. We find no evidence of light echoes above the survey surface brightness limit of 1$times$10$^{-15}$erg/s/cm$^2$/arcsec$^2$.
Light echoes, light from a variable source scattered off dust, have been observed for over a century. The recent discovery of light echoes around centuries-old supernovae in the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud have allowed the spectroscopic characterization of these events, even without contemporaneous photometry and spectroscopy using modern instrumentation. Here we review the recent scientific advances using light echoes of ancient and historic transients, and focus on our latest work on SN 1987As and Eta Carinaes light echoes.
Exoplanets orbiting M dwarf stars are a prime target in the search for life in the Universe. M dwarf stars are active, with powerful flares that could adversely impact prospects for life, though there are counter-arguments. Here, we turn flaring to advantage and describe ways in which it can be used to enhance the detectability of planets, in the absence of transits or a coronagraph, significantly expanding the accessible discovery and characterization space. Flares produce brief bursts of intense luminosity, after which the star dims. Due to the light travel time between the star and planet, the planet receives the high intensity pulse, which it re-emits through scattering (a light echo) or intrinsic emission when the star is much fainter, thereby increasing the planets detectability. The planets light echo emission can potentially be discriminated from that of the host star by means of a time delay, Doppler shift, spatial shift, and polarization, each of which can improve the contrast of the planet to the star. Scattered light can reveal the albedo spectrum of the planet to within a size scale factor, and is likely to be polarized. Intrinsic emission mechanisms include fluorescent pumping of multiple molecular hydrogen and neutral oxygen lines by intense LyAlpha and LyBeta flare emission, recombination radiation of ionized and photodissociated species, and atmospheric processes such as terrestrial upper atmosphere airglow and near infrared hydroxyl emission. We discuss the feasibility of detecting light echoes and find that under favorable circumstances, echo detection is possible.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
