Calculated late time spectra of supernovae

Conference · Fri Oct 30 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:5515564

Axelrod, T S

We consider here the nebular phase spectra of supernovae whose late time luminosity is provided by the radioactive decay of /sup 56/Ni and /sup 56/Co synthesized in the explosion. A broad variety of supernovae are known or suspected to fall in this category. This includes all SNIa and SNIb, and at least some SNII, in particular SN1987a. At sufficiently late times the expanding supernova becomes basically nebular in character due to its decreasing optical depth. The spectra produced during this stage contain information on the density and abundance structure of the entire supernova, as opposed to spectra near maximum light which are affected only by the outermost layers. A numerical model for nebular spectrum formation is therefore potentially very valuable for answering currently outstanding questions about the post-explosion supernova structure. As an example, we can hope to determine the degree of mixing which occurs between the layers of the ''onion-skin'' abundance structure predicted by current one dimensional explosion calculations. In the sections which follow, such a numerical model is briefly described and then applied to SN1972e, a typical SNIa, SN1985f, an SNIb, and finally to SN1987a. In the case of SN1987a predicted spectra are presented for the wavelength range from 1 to 100 microns at a time 300 days after explosion. 18 refs., 6 figs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5515564
• Report Number(s): UCRL-97699; CONF-8709186-2; ON: DE88003296
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
COBALT 56
COBALT ISOTOPES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DECAY
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
IONIZATION
ISOTOPES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NICKEL 56
NICKEL ISOTOPES
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
SPECTRA
STARS
SUPERNOVAE
VARIABLE STARS