Carbon Monoxide in the Cold Debris of Supernova 1987A
Abstract
We report spectroscopic and imaging observations of rotational transitions of cold CO and SiO in the ejecta of SN1987A, the first such emission detected in a supernova remnant. In addition to line luminosities for the CO J=1-0, 2-1, 6-5, and 7-6 transitions, we present upper limits for all other transitions up to J=13-12, collectively measured from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX), and the Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE). Simple models show the lines are emitted from at least 0.01 solar masses of CO at a temperature > 14 K, confined within at most 35% of a spherical volume expanding at ~ 2000 km/s. Moreover, we locate the emission within 1'' of the central debris. These observations, along with a partial observation of SiO, confirm the presence of cold molecular gas within supernova remnants and provide insight into the physical conditions and chemical processes in the ejecta. Furthermore, we demonstrate the powerful new window into supernova ejecta offered by submillimeter observations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1307.6561,
title = {Carbon Monoxide in the Cold Debris of Supernova 1987A},
author = {J. Kamenetzky and R. McCray and R. Indebetouw and M. J. Barlow and M. Matsuura and M. Baes and J. A. D. L. Blommaert and A. Bolatto and L. Decin and L. Dunne and C. Fransson and J. Glenn and H. L. Gomez and M. A. T. Groenewegen and R. Hopwood and R. P. Kirshner and M. Lakicevic and J. Marcaide and I. Marti-Vidal and M. Meixner and P. Royer and A. Soderberg and G. Sonneborn and L. Staveley-Smith and B. M. Swinyard and G. Van de Steene and P. A. M. van Hoof and J. Th. van Loon and J. Yates and G. Zanardo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.6561},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters, 6 pages, 3 figures