Search

We present a study of the morphology of the ejecta in Supernova 1987A based on images and spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as well as integral field spectroscopy from VLT/SINFONI. The HST observations were obtained between 1994 and 2011 and primarily probe the outer H-rich zones of the ejecta. The SINFONI observations were obtained in 2005 and 2011 and instead probe the [Si I]+[Fe II] emission from the inner regions. We find a strong temporal evolution of the morphology in the HST images, from a roughly elliptical shape before ~5000 days, to a more irregular, edge-brightened morphology with a "hole" in the middle thereafter. This transition is a natural consequence of the change in the dominant energy source powering the ejecta, from radioactive decay before ~5000 days to X-ray input from the circumstellar interaction thereafter. The [Si I]+[Fe II] images display a more uniform morphology, which may be due to a remaining significant contribution from radioactivity in the inner ejecta and the higher abundance of these elements in the core. Both the Ha and the [Si I]+[Fe II] line profiles show that the ejecta are distributed fairly close to the plane of the inner circumstellar ring, which is assumed to define the rotational axis of the progenitor star. The Ha emission extends to higher velocities than [Si I]+[Fe II], as expected from theoretical models. There is no clear symmetry axis for all the emission. Instead, we find that the emission is concentrated to clumps and that the emission is distributed somewhat closer to the ring in the north than in the south. This north-south asymmetry may be partially explained by dust absorption. We compare our results with explosion models and find some qualitative agreement, but note that the observations show a higher degree of large-scale asymmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a comprehensive spectral and morphological analysis of the remnant of supernova (SN) 1987A with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The non-thermal and thermal components of the radio emission are investigated in images from 94 to 672 GHz (λ 3.2 mm to 450 μm), with the assistance of a high-resolution 44 GHz synchrotron template from the ATCA, and a dust template from ALMA observations at 672 GHz. An analysis of the emission distribution over the equatorial ring in images from 44 to 345 GHz highlights a gradual decrease of the east-to-west asymmetry ratio with frequency. We attribute this to the shorter synchrotron lifetime at high frequencies. Across the transition from radio to far infrared, both the synchrotron/dust-subtracted images and the spectral energy distribution (SED) suggest additional emission beside the main synchrotron component (Sν∝ν–0.73) and the thermal component originating from dust grains at T ∼ 22 K. This excess could be due to free-free flux or emission from grains of colder dust. However, a second flat-spectrum synchrotron component appears to better fit the SED, implying that the emission could be attributed to a pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The residual emission is mainly localized west of the SN site, as the spectral analysis yields –0.4 ≲ α ≲ –0.1 across the western regions, with α ∼ 0 around the central region. If there is a PWN in the remnant interior, these data suggest that the pulsar may be offset westward from the SN position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]