Related papers: Balmer-Dominated Shocks Revisited
Balmer-dominated shocks in supernova remnants (SNRs) produce strong hydrogen lines with a two-component profile composed of a narrow contribution from cold upstream hydrogen atoms, and a broad contribution from hydrogen atoms that have…
The reverse shock of supernova remnant (SNR) 1987A emits in H-alpha and Ly-alpha, and comes in two flavors: surface and interior. The former is due to direct, impact excitation of hydrogen atoms crossing the shock, while the latter is the…
We examine the structure of the post-shock region in supernova remnants (SNRs). The ``shock transition zone'' is set up by charge transfer and ionization events between atoms and ions, and has a width $\sim 10^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$ $n^{-1}_0$,…
Balmer emission may be a powerful diagnostic tool to test the paradigm of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in young supernova remnant (SNR) shocks. The width of the broad Balmer line is a direct indicator of the downstream plasma temperature.…
Radiative transfer in hydrogen lines in supernova remnant (SNR) shock waves is studied taking into account the population of the hydrogen atom 2s-state. Measurements of Balmer line emission, especially of H~$\alpha$, are often relied upon…
Charge transfer (or exchange) reactions between hydrogen atoms and protons in collisionless shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs) are a natural way of producing broad Balmer, Lyman and other lines of hydrogen. We wish to quantify the…
Balmer-dominated shocks in Type Ia supernova remnants offer powerful probes into collisionless shock physics and hints towards supernova progenitor environments. Prior studies focused on the hydrogen Balmer lines, which manifest as a…
Strong shocks propagating into a partially ionized medium are often associated with optical Balmer lines. This emission is due to impact excitation of neutral hydrogen by hot protons and electrons in the shocked gas. The structure of such…
The analysis of Balmer-dominated emission in supernova remnants is potentially a very powerful way to derive information on the shock structure, on the physical conditions of the ambient medium and on the cosmic-ray acceleration efficiency.…
Many fast supernova remnant shocks show spectra dominated by Balmer lines. The H$\alpha$ profiles have a narrow component explained by direct excitations and a thermally Doppler broadened component due to atoms that undergo charge exchange…
We present new {\it Hubble Space Telescope} images of high-velocity H-$\alpha$ and Lyman-$\alpha$ emission in the outer debris of SN~1987A. The H-$\alpha$ images are dominated by emission from hydrogen atoms crossing the reverse shock. For…
We describe and model high velocity (~15,000 km/s) Lyman alpha and Balmer alpha emission from supernova remnant 1987A seen in September and October 1997 with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Part of this emission comes from a…
Balmer-dominated shells in supernova remnants (SNRs) are produced by collisionless shocks advancing into a partially neutral medium, and are most frequently associated with Type Ia supernovae. We have analyzed Hubble Space Telescope (HST)…
We present an observational and theoretical study of the optical emission from nonradiative shocks in three supernova remnants: the Cygnus Loop, RCW 86 and Tycho. The spectra of these shocks are dominated by collisionally excited hydrogen…
The shocks of several young supernova remnants (SNR) are often associated with very thin optical filaments dominated by Balmer emission resulting from charge-exchange and collisional excitation between neutral Hydrogen from the interstellar…
We use low-dispersion spectra obtained at the Magellan Observatory to study the broad H-alpha emission from the reverse shock of the infant supernova remnant SNR1987A. These spectra demonstrate that the spatio-kinematic structure of the…
Context: Observation of Balmer lines from the region around the forward shock of supernova remnants may provide precious information on the shock dynamics and on the efficiency of particle acceleration at the shock. Aims: We calculate the…
We analyze the ratios of the broad hydrogen Balmer emission lines (from H\alpha to H\epsilon) in the context of estimating the physical conditions in the broad line region (BLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The Balmer emission lines are…
We present a 3-dimensional model of supernova remnants (SNRs) where the hydrodynamical evolution of the remnant is modeled consistently with nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration occuring at the outer blast wave. The model includes…
A nonlinear kinetic theory, combining cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration in supernova remnants (SNRs) with their gas dynamics, is used to re-examine the nonthermal properties of the remnant of SN 1987A for an extended evolutionary period of 5-50…