0000000000261709
AUTHOR
Eli Dwek
ALMA spectral survey of Supernova 1987A – molecular inventory, chemistry, dynamics and explosive nucleosynthesis
We report the first molecular line survey of Supernova 1987A in the millimetre wavelength range. In the ALMA 210--300 and 340--360 GHz spectra, we detected cold (20--170 K) CO, 28SiO, HCO+ and SO, with weaker lines of 29SiO from ejecta. This is the first identification of HCO+ and SO in a young supernova remnant. We find a dip in the J=6--5 and 5--4 SiO line profiles, suggesting that the ejecta morphology is likely elongated. The difference of the CO and SiO line profiles is consistent with hydrodynamic simulations, which show that Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities cause mixing of gas, with heavier elements much more disturbed, making more elongated structure. We obtained isotopologue ratios of…
Dust Production and Particle Acceleration in Supernova 1987A Revealed with ALMA
Supernova (SN) explosions are crucial engines driving the evolution of galaxies by shock heating gas, increasing the metallicity, creating dust, and accelerating energetic particles. In 2012 we used the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array to observe SN 1987A, one of the best-observed supernovae since the invention of the telescope. We present spatially resolved images at 450um, 870um, 1.4mm, and 2.8mm, an important transition wavelength range. Longer wavelength emission is dominated by synchrotron radiation from shock-accelerated particles, shorter wavelengths by emission from the largest mass of dust measured in a supernova remnant (>0.2Msun). For the first time we show unambig…
High Angular Resolution ALMA Images of Dust and Molecules in the SN 1987A Ejecta
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 t…