Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997aas...191.4012b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 191st AAS Meeting, #40.12; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 29, p.1269
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
3
Scientific paper
The fast-moving supernova ejecta drive a blast wave through a moderately dense HII region interior to the inner ring of SN1987A. The shocked HII region is now visible through its X-ray and radio emission. But the circumstellar medium of SN1987A, including the HII region, contains dust which produced light echoes shortly after the explosion. The dust in the shocked HII region is heated by thermal electrons to a temperature of ~ 170 K, and should be a strong emitter of infrared (IR) radiation. The calculated IR spectrum peaks in the wavelength range 10--20 mu m. Assuming a conservative gas/dust mass ratio of 1000, the predicted IR flux density is ~ 10 mJy in this wavelength range. This emission should be detectable with ISOCAM onboard the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). The supernova ejecta themselves also produce line and continuum IR radiation. The strongest line is expected to be [FeII] 26 mu m. The flux in this line is simply related to the energy input by the radioactive decay of (44) Ti, and was expected to be easily detected by ISO. However, an ISO SWS spectrum of the region around 26 mu m does not show any evidence of the line, giving an upper limit on the (44) Ti mass of 1.5 x 10(-5) Msun. This is much lower than the 10(-4) Msun usually assumed. The UV and optical emission, produced by the decay of (44) Ti in the Fe-rich core and by recombination in the hydrogen envelope, heats the dust in the SN ejecta. This heated dust emits in the IR, but its detection might be difficult because the dust is cooler and the predicted IR luminosity is an order of magnitude lower than for the collisionally-heated dust in the HII region.
Borkowski Kazimierz J.
de Kool Martijn
McCray Richard
Wooden Diane H.
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