EVOLUTION AND HYDRODYNAMICS OF THE VERY BROAD X-RAY LINE EMISSION IN SN 1987A
- MIT Kavli Institute, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, Garching D-85748 (Germany)
Observations of SN 1987A by the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) in 1999 and the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) in 2003 show very broad (v-b) lines with a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of order 10{sup 4} km s{sup -1}; at these times the blast wave (BW) was primarily interacting with the H II region around the progenitor. Since then, the X-ray emission has been increasingly dominated by narrower components as the BW encounters dense equatorial ring (ER) material. Even so, continuing v-b emission is seen in the grating spectra suggesting that the interaction with H II region material is ongoing. Based on the deep HETG 2007 and 2011 data sets, and confirmed by RGS and other HETG observations, the v-b component has a width of 9300 {+-} 2000 km s{sup -1} FWHM and contributes of order 20% of the current 0.5-2 keV flux. Guided by this result, SN 1987A's X-ray spectra are modeled as the weighted sum of the non-equilibrium-ionization emission from two simple one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations; this '2 Multiplication-Sign 1D' model reproduces the observed radii, light curves, and spectra with a minimum of free parameters. The interaction with the H II region ({rho}{sub init} Almost-Equal-To 130 amu cm{sup -3}, {+-} 15 Degree-Sign opening angle) produces the very broad emission lines and most of the 3-10 keV flux. Our ER hydrodynamics, admittedly a crude approximation to the multi-D reality, gives ER densities of {approx}10{sup 4} amu cm{sup -3}, requires dense clumps ( Multiplication-Sign 5.5 density enhancement in {approx}30% of the volume), and predicts that the 0.5-2 keV flux will drop at a rate of {approx}17% per year once no new dense ER material is being shocked.
- OSTI ID:
- 22037033
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 752, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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