HST-COS Observations on Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon, and Nitrogen Emission from the SN 1987A Reverse Shock

We present the most sensitive ultraviolet observations of Supernova 1987 A to date. Imaging spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope-Cosmic Origins Spectrograph shows many narrow (Delta v approximates 300 km/s) emission lines from the circumstellar ring, broad Delta v approximates 10-20 x 10(exp 3) km/s) emission lines from the reverse shock, and ultraviolet continuum emission. The high signal-to-noise ratio (>40 per resolution element) broad Ly-alpha emission is excited by soft X-ray and EUV heating of mostly neutral gas in the circumstellar ring and outer supernova debris. The ultraviolet continuum at lambda > 1350 A can be explained by H-I two-photon (2s(exp 2)S(sub 1/2)-l(exp 2)S(sub 1/2)) emission from the same region. We confirm our earlier, tentative detection of N V lambda 1240 emission from the reverse shock and present the first detections of broad He II lambda1640, C IV lambda 1550, and N IV ] lambda1486 emission lines from the reverse shock. The helium abundance in the high-velocity material is He/H = 0.14 +/- 0.06. The N V /H alpha line ratio requires partial ion-electron equilibration (T(sub e)/T(sub p) approximately equal to 0.14-0.35). We find that the N/C abundance ratio in the gas crossing the reverse shock is significantly higher than that in the circumstellar ring, a result that may be attributed to chemical stratification in the outer envelope of the supernova progenitor. The N/C abundance may have been stratified prior to the ring expUlsion, or this result may indicate continued CNO processing in the progenitor subsequent to the expUlsion of the circumstellar ring.