Optical Flickering and Mass Ablation of High-Velocity Ejecta Knots in Cassiopeia A

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Hubble Space Telescope images of the young core-collapse supernova remnant Cassiopeia A are used to investigate changes in the optical flux and morphology of the remnant's outer, high-velocity ejecta knots. Examination of several dozen small debris fragments in the remnant's northeast ejecta "jet" and along its eastern limb using WFPC2 and ACS images taken between June 1999 and December 2004 reveal approximately 0.5 to 2 magnitude emission variations ("flickering") over timescales as short as 9 months. Nearly two dozen other ejecta knots located in several regions around the remnant's outer periphery are found to show faint trailing emission "tails" suggestive of mass ablation. Such trailing emission features may represent the first detailed look at the initial phase in the process of supernova ejecta knot break-up and dissolution as they merge into the interstellar medium. In addition, several tight cluster of similar size and brightness ejecta knots located in the remnant's northeast jet appear similar to recent model results which indicate large ejecta clumps will fragment into tight groups of small knots as a result of high-speed passage through a lower density ambient medium.

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