Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userSN 1987A at High Resolution
165
0
0.0
(
0
)
Authors
Daniel Dewey
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Handed the baton from ROSAT, early observations of SN 1987A with the Chandra HETG and the XMM-Newton RGS showed broad lines with a FWHM of 10^4 km/s: the SN blast wave was continuing to shock the H II region around SN 1987A. Since then, its picturesque equatorial ring (ER) has been shocked, giving rise to a growing, dominant narrow-lined component. Even so, current HETG and RGS observations show that a broad component is still present and contributes 20% of the 0.5--2 keV flux. SN 1987As X-ray behavior can be modeled with a minimum of free parameters as the sum of two simple 1D hydrodynamic simulations: i) an on-going interaction with H II region material producing the broad emission lines and most of the 3--10 keV flux, and ii) an interaction with the dense, clumpy ER material that dominates the 0.5--2 keV flux. Toward the future, we predict a continued growth of the broad component but a drop in the 0.5--2 keV flux, once no new dense ER material is being shocked. When? Time, and new data, will tell.
rate research
Read More
The possible detection of a compact object in the remnant of SN 1987A presents an unprecedented opportunity to follow its early evolution. The suspected detection stems from an excess of infrared emission from a dust blob near the compact objects predicted position. The infrared excess could be due to the decay of isotopes like 44Ti, accretion luminosity from a neutron star or black hole, magnetospheric emission or a wind originating from the spindown of a pulsar, or thermal emission from an embedded, cooling neutron star (NS 1987A). It is shown that the last possibility is the most plausible as the other explanations are disfavored by other observations and/or require fine-tuning of parameters. Not only are there indications the dust blob overlaps the predicted location of a kicked compact remnant, but its excess luminosity also matches the expected thermal power of a 30 year old neutron star. Furthermore, models of cooling neutron stars within the Minimal Cooling paradigm readily fit both NS 1987A and Cas A, the next-youngest known neutron star. If correct, a long heat transport timescale in the crust and a large effective stellar temperature are favored, implying relatively limited crustal n-1S0 superfluidity and an envelope with a thick layer of light elements, respectively. If the locations dont overlap, then pulsar spindown or accretion might be more likely, but the pulsars period and magnetic field or the accretion rate must be rather finely tuned. In this case, NS 1987A may have enhanced cooling and/or a heavy-element envelope.
We present high angular resolution (~80 mas) ALMA continuum images of the SN 1987A system, together with CO $J$=2 $!rightarrow!$ 1, $J$=6 $!rightarrow!$ 5, and SiO $J$=5 $!rightarrow!$ 4 to $J$=7 $!rightarrow!$ 6 images, which clearly resolve the ejecta (dust continuum and molecules) and ring (synchrotron continuum) components. Dust in the ejecta is asymmetric and clumpy, and overall the dust fills the spatial void seen in H$alpha$ images, filling that region with material from heavier elements. The dust clumps generally fill the space where CO $J$=6 $!rightarrow!$ 5 is fainter, tentatively indicating that these dust clumps and CO are locationally and chemically linked. In these regions, carbonaceous dust grains might have formed after dissociation of CO. The dust grains would have cooled by radiation, and subsequent collisions of grains with gas would also cool the gas, suppressing the CO $J$=6 $!rightarrow!$ 5 intensity. The data show a dust peak spatially coincident with the molecular hole seen in previous ALMA CO $J$=2 $!rightarrow!$ 1 and SiO $J$=5 $!rightarrow!$ 4 images. That dust peak, combined with CO and SiO line spectra, suggests that the dust and gas could be at higher temperatures than the surrounding material, though higher density cannot be totally excluded. One of the possibilities is that a compact source provides additional heat at that location. Fits to the far-infrared--millimeter spectral energy distribution give ejecta dust temperatures of 18--23K. We revise the ejecta dust mass to $mathrm{M_{dust}} = 0.2-0.4$M$_odot$ for carbon or silicate grains, or a maximum of $<0.7$M$_odot$ for a mixture of grain species, using the predicted nucleosynthesis yields as an upper limit.
Based on observations with the $Chandra$ X-ray Observatory, we present the latest spectral evolution of the X-ray remnant of SN 1987A (SNR 1987A). We present a high-resolution spectroscopic analysis using our new deep ($sim$312 ks) $Chandra$ HETG observation taken in March 2018, as well as archival $Chandra$ gratings spectroscopic data taken in 2004, 2007, and 2011 with similarly deep exposures ($sim$170 - 350 ks). We perform detailed spectral model fits to quantify changing plasma conditions over the last 14 years. Recent changes in electron temperatures and volume emission measures suggest that the shocks moving through the inner ring have started interacting with less dense circumstellar material, probably beyond the inner ring. We find significant changes in the X-ray line flux ratios (among H- and He-like Si and Mg ions) in 2018, consistent with changes in the thermal conditions of the X-ray emitting plasma that we infer based on the broadband spectral analysis. Post-shock electron temperatures suggested by line flux ratios are in the range $sim$0.8 - 2.5 keV as of 2018. We do not yet observe any evidence of substantial abundance enhancement, suggesting that the X-ray emission component from the reverse-shocked metal-rich ejecta is not yet significant in the observed X-ray spectrum.
The smallest of the four detectors which claim to have observed neutrinos from SN 1987a registered the events more than 4 h earlier than the other three ones. This claim is not usually accepted because it is difficult to understand that the other (and larger) detectors did not register any events at the same time. It is shown that microlensing of the neutrinos by a star in-between the supernova (SN) and Earth can enhance the neutrino intensity at the position of one detector by more than an order of magnitude with respect to the other detectors. Such a configuration is improbable but not impossible. Essential for this enhancement is the small source diameter, of order 100 km. So if two bursts of neutrinos were emitted by SN 1987a at a separation of about 4 h it could be explained easily that the smallest detector observed the first burst while the other ones missed it and vice versa.
Both CO and SiO have been observed at early and late phases in SN 1987A. H_2 was predicted to form at roughly the same time as these molecules, but was not detected at early epochs. Here we report the detection of NIR lines from H_2 at 2.12 mu and 2.40 mu in VLT/SINFONI spectra obtained between days 6489 and 10,120. The emission is concentrated to the core of the supernova in contrast to H-alpha and approximately coincides with the [Si I]/[Fe II] emission detected previously in the ejecta. Different excitation mechanisms and power sources of the emission are discussed. From the nearly constant H_2 luminosities we favour excitation resulting from the 44Ti decay.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
