Dust survival rates in clumps passing through the Cas A reverse shock – I. Results for a range of clump densities

Journal Article · Fri Aug 30 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2399· OSTI ID:1563015

Kirchschlager, Florian  ^[1]; Schmidt, Franziska D. ^[1]; Barlow, M. J.  ^[1]; Fogerty, Erica L.  ^[2]; Bevan, Antonia  ^[1]; Priestley, Felix D. ^[3]

---

1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
2. Center for Theoretical Astrophysics, Los Alamos National Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK, School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queen’s Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK

ABSTRACT The reverse shock in the ejecta of core-collapse supernovae is potentially able to destroy newly formed dust material. In order to determine dust survival rates, we have performed a set of hydrodynamic simulations using the grid-based code astrobear in order to model a shock wave interacting with clumpy supernova ejecta. Dust motions and destruction rates were computed using our newly developed external, post-processing code paperboats, which includes gas drag, grain charging, sputtering, and grain–grain collisions. We have determined dust destruction rates for the oxygen-rich supernova remnant Cassiopeia A as a function of initial grain sizes and clump gas density. We found that up to $$30\,\mathrm{{{\ \rm per\ cent}}}$$ of the carbon dust mass is able to survive the passage of the reverse shock if the initial grain size distribution is narrow with radii around ∼10–50 nm for high gas densities, or with radii around $$\sim 0.5\!-\!1.5\,\mathrm{\mu m}$$ for low and medium gas densities. Silicate grains with initial radii around 10–30 nm show survival rates of up to $$40\,\mathrm{{{\ \rm per\ cent}}}$$ for medium- and high-density contrasts, while silicate material with micron-sized distributions is mostly destroyed. For both materials, the surviving dust mass is rearranged into a new size distribution that can be approximated by two components: a power-law distribution of small grains and a lognormal distribution of grains having the same size range as the initial distribution. Our results show that grain–grain collisions and sputtering are synergistic and that grain–grain collisions can play a crucial role in determining the surviving dust budget in supernova remnants.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); European Research Council (ERC); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) (United Kingdom)
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001; ERC-2015-AdG-694520; ST/P002307/1; ST/R002452/1; ST/R00689X/1
• OSTI ID: 1563015
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1669087
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-19-27511
• Journal Information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 489 Journal Issue: 4; ISSN 0035-8711
• Publisher: Royal Astronomical Society
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
hydrodynamics
shock waves
methods: numerical
supernovae: general
supernovae: individual: Cassiopeia A
dust
extinction
ISM: supernova remnants.