Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Nov 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999phdt........11p&link_type=abstract
Ph.D.thesis, Univ. de Valencia (Estudi General), 1999
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
3
Supernovae, Radio, Emission, Radiointerferometry, Astrometry, Phase-Delay
Scientific paper
The present thesis work makes contributions in two scientific fronts: differential astrometry over the largest angular scales ever attempted (approx. 15 arcdegrees) and numerical simulations of radio emission from very young supernovae. In the first part, we describe the results of the use of very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) in one experiment designed to measure with very high precision the angular distance between the radio sources 1150+812 (QSO) and 1803+784 (BL Lac). We observed the radio sources on 19 November 1993 using an intercontinental array of radio telescopes, which simultaneously recorded at 2.3 and 8.4 GHz. VLBI differential astrometry is capable, Nature allowing, of yielding source positions with precisions well below the milliarcsecond level. To achieve this precision, we first had to accurately model the rotation of the interferometric fringes via the most precise models of Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP; precession, polar motion and UT1, nutation). With this model, we successfully connected our phase delay data at both frequencies and, using difference astrometric techniques, determined the coordinates of 1803+784 relative to those of 1150+812-within the IERS reference frame--with an standard error of about 0.6 mas in each coordinate. We then corrected for several effects including propagation medium (mainly the atmosphere and ionosphere), and opacity and source-structure effects within the radio sources. We stress that our dual-frequency measurements allowed us to accurately subtract the ionosphere contribution from our data. We also used GPS-based TEC measurements to independently find the ionosphere contribution, and showed that these contributions agree with our dual-frequency measurements within about 2 standard deviations in the less favorables cases (the longest baselines), but are usually well within one standard deviation. Our estimates of the relative positions, whether using dual-frequency-based or GPS-based ionosphere corrections, agree well within one standard deviation. In summary, our astrometric results demonstrate the feasibility of using phase-delay difference techniques (single-frequency or dual-frequency) for sources separated by as far as 15(deg) on the sky. This opens the avenue for the extension of the technique on a global scale with the aim of building up a quasi-inertial reference frame (of submilliarcsecond accuracy) based on extragalactic radio sources. The second part of this thesis is devoted to the study of the radio emission of the Type II supernova SN 1993J, whose relative proximity (it exploded in the Galaxy M81, at a distance of 10 million of light-years) has allowed us to observe it with VLBI at different radio frequency bands since June 1993. This radio supernova is the best studied one so far and thus a perfect laboratory to test supernova radio emission models. Early VLBI observations of this supernova by our group allowed us to discover the shell structure of SN 1993J--likely common to all supernovae--the youngest ever discovered in a supernova. Subsequently, our VLBI observations showed SN 1993J to be self-similarly expanding and, more recently, we used our VLBI observations at 3.6 and 6 cm in the period 6 through 42 months after explosion to show that the supernova expansion is decelerating, its size following a power-law with time (R t^m; m=0.86 +- 0.02). Our measurement of the expansion index yields estimates of the density of both supernova ejecta and circumstellar material in standard supernova explosion models. In particular, the density of the circumstellar material seems to be following a power-law less steep than usual (rhocs r^{-s}, with s approx. 1.66 instead of the standard s=2). Our VLBI observations also showed that the supernova radio emission comes from a shell of width 30% of the outer radius. In this thesis, we describe a numerical code that simulates synchrotron radio emission from a supernova. We assume that the supernova is self-similarly and spherically symmetric expanding, and that the radio emission comes only from its shell. We take into account radiative losses due to synchrotron emission and losses due to the supernova expansion. Although relatively simple, the model retains the main physical features involving the process of radio emission. Our code, MOSES (MOdeling of Synchrotron Emissiom from Supernovae), reproduces fairly well the radio light curves for SN 1993J obtained from single dish measurements. Constrained by our VLBI measurements, we fitted the light curves of the supernova by adjusting five parameters, namely: index of the injected distribution of relativistic electrons, p; ratio of the mass-loss rate to the wind velocity of the supernova progenitor, M_w; and the initial values for the injection of electrons, N_0, the low-energy cut-off of the relativistic electrons, emin, and the magnetic field, B_0. To get a reasonable fit, we need: values of the spectral index, p, very close to three; a wind parameter M_w approx 1.7, thus indicating the existence of a strong presupernova wind ( 8.5*10^{-5} solar masses per year); low initial values of N_0 ( 7 * 10^{-7} erg^{p-1} cm^3); initially high low-energy cut-offs of the relativistic electrons (Erel approx. 90 m_e*c^2); and high initial magnetic fields (B_0 approx. 30 Gauss). An uncertainty of about a factor 2 is likely to exist for such parameters as B_0, N_0, and E_min. In contrast, both p and M_w seem to be well constrained to their nominal values. We stress that the large magnetic field required represents a relatively shocking result in view of the usually small (a few microgauss) interstellar magnetic fields, and tends to favor theories in which the magnetic field is amplified in situ by turbulences inside the supernova shell.
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