DUST PRODUCTION AND PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN SUPERNOVA 1987A REVEALED WITH ALMA
Journal article, 2014
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 450 mu m, 870 mu m, 1.4 mm, and 2.8 mm, 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 (>0.2 M-circle dot). For the first time we show unambiguously that this dust has formed in the inner ejecta (the cold remnants of the exploded star's core). The dust emission is concentrated at the center of the remnant, so the dust has not yet been affected by the shocks. If a significant fraction survives, and if SN 1987A is typical, supernovae are important cosmological dust producers.
Magellanic Clouds
MASSIVE STARS
EARLY UNIVERSE
individual (1987A)
EJECTA
REVERSE SHOCK
supernovae:
ISM: supernova remnants
EMISSION
galaxies: ISM
REMNANT
SN 1987A
EVOLUTION
OPTICAL-PROPERTIES
HUBBLE-SPACE-TELESCOPE
Author
R. Indebetouw
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
University of Virginia
M. Matsuura
University College London (UCL)
E. Dwek
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
G. Zanardo
University of Western Australia
M. J. Barlow
University College London (UCL)
Maarten Baes
Ghent university
P. Bouchet
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
D. N. Burrows
Pennsylvania State University
R. Chevalier
University of Virginia
G. C. Clayton
Louisiana State University
C. Fransson
Stockholm University
B. Gaensler
The University of Sydney
ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO)
R. Kirshner
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
M. Lakicevic
Keele University
K. S. Long
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
P. Lundqvist
Stockholm University
Ivan Marti-Vidal
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Onsala Space Observatory
J. M. Marcaide
Universitat de Valencia
R. McCray
University of Colorado
M. Meixner
Johns Hopkins University
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
C. Y. Ng
The University of Hong Kong
S. Park
University of Texas at Arlington
G. Sonneborn
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
L. Staveley-Smith
ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO)
University of Western Australia
C. Vlahakis
Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA)
J. T. van Loon
Keele University
Astrophysical Journal Letters
2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)
Vol. 782 1 6- L2Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1088/2041-8205/782/1/l2