Titanium hidden in dust
Abstract
Cassiopeia A, one of the most intriguing galactic supernova remnants, has been a target of many observational efforts including most recent observations by ALMA, Hubble, Herschel, Spitzer, NuSTAR, Integral, and other observatories. We use recent gamma-ray lines observations of the radioactive products of Cas A supernova explosive nucleosynthesis as well as spectral energy densities derived for Cas A at infrared wavelengths to speculate about the possibility of radioactive 44Ti being locked into large dust grains. This suggestion is also supported by the possible observation of a pre-supernova outburst about 80 years before the actual Cas A supernova explosion in 1671 AD by Italian astronomer G.D. Cassini. The plausibility of such a scenario is discussed also with reference to recent supernovae, and to the contribution of core-collapse supernovae to the overall dust production in the Galaxy.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1902.02249,
title = {Titanium hidden in dust},
author = {A. Iyudin and E. Müller and M. Obergaulinger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1902.02249},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
8 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS