Engineering topics

McCray, Richard

Publications and source records attributed to McCray, Richard.

11 records

NASA NTRS2012

X-Ray Heating of the Ejecta of Supernova 1987A

Analysis of Hubble Space Telescope Band R band images from 1994 to 2009 show that the optical luminosity of SN 1987A has transitioned from being powered by radioactive decay of Ti-44 to energy deposited by X-rays produced as the ejecta interacts with the surrounding material (Larsson et al. 2011, Nature, 474, 484). The B and R band flux from the densest, central parts of the ejecta followed the expected exponential decline until 2001 (about day 5000) when the flux in these bands started increasing, more than doubling by the end of 2009. This increase is the result of heat deposited by X-rays from the shock interaction of the fast-moving outer ejecta with the inner circumstellar ring. In time, the X-rays will penetrate farther into the ejecta, enabling us to analyze the structure and chemistry of the vanished star.

Sonneborn, George↗

NASA NTRS2011

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.

France, Kevin↗

NASA NTRS2010

Observing Supernova 1987A with the Refurbished Hubble Space Telescope

The young remnant of supernova 1987A (SN 1987A) offers an unprecedented glimpse into the hydrodynamics and kinetics of fast astrophysical shocks. We have been monitoring SN 1987A with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) since it was launched. The recent repair of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) allows us to compare observations in 2004, just before its demise, with those in 2010, shortly after its resuscitation by NASA astronauts. We find that the Ly-alpha and H-alpha lines from shock emission continue to brighten, while their maximum velocities continue to decrease. We report evidence for nearly coherent, resonant scattering of Lya photons (to blueshifts approximately -12,000 km /s) from hotspots on the equatorial ring. We also report emission to the red of Ly-alpha that we attribute to N v lambda lambda 1239,1243 Angstrom line emission. These lines are detectable because, unlike hydrogen atoms, N4+ ions emit hundreds of photons before they are ionized. The profiles of the N v lines differ markedly from that of H-alpha. We attribute this to scattering of N4+ ions by magnetic fields in the ionized plasma. Thus, N v emission provides a unique probe of the isotropization zone of the collisionless shock. Observations with the recently installed Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) will enable us to observe the N v lambda lambda 1239,1243 Angstrom line profiles with much higher signal-to-noise ratios than possible with STIS and may reveal lines of other highly ionized species (such as C IVlambda lambda 1548,1551 Angstrom) that will test our explanation for the N v emission

France, Kevin↗

NASA NTRS2007

Infrared and X-Ray Evidence for Circumstellar Grain Destruction by the Blast Wave of Supernova 1987A

Multiwavelength observations of supernova remnant (SNR) 1987A show that its morphology and luminosity are rapidly changing at X-ray, optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths as the blast wave from the explosion expands into the circumstellar equatorial ring, produced by mass loss from the progenitor star. The observed infrared (IR) radiation arises from the interaction of dust grains that formed in mass outflow with the soft X-ray emitting plasma component of the shocked gas. Spitzer IRS spectra at 5 - 30 microns taken on day 6190 since the explosion show that the emission arises from approx. 1.1 x 10(exp -6) solar mass of silicate grains radiating at a temperature of approx. 180+/-(15-20) K. Subsequent observations on day 7137 show that the IR flux had increased by a factor of 2 while maintaining an almost identical spectral shape. The observed IR-to-X-ray flux ratio (IRX) is consistent with that of a dusty plasma with standard LMC dust abundances. This flux ratio has decreased by a factor of approx. 2 between days 6190 and 7137, providing the first direct observation of the ongoing destruction of dust in an expanding SN blast wave on dynamic time scales. Detailed models consistent with the observed dust temperature, the ionization fluence of the soft X-ray emission component, and the evolution of IRX suggest that the radiating si1icate grains are immersed in a 3.5 x 10(exp 6) K plasma with a density of (0.3 - 1) x 10(exp 4)/cu cm, and have a size distribution that is confined to a narrow range of radii between 0.02 and 0.2 microns. Smaller grains may have been evaporated by the initial UV flash from the supernova.

Dwek, Eliahu↗

NASA NTRS2003

SN1987A: The Birth of a Supernova Remnant

This grant was intended to support the development of theoretical models needed to interpret and understand the observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray telescope of the rapidly developing remnant of Supernova 1987A. In addition, we carried out a few investigations of related topics. The project was spectacularly successful. The models that we developed provide the definitive framework for predicting and interpreting this phenomenon. Following is a list of publications based on our work. Some of these papers include results of both theoretical modeling supported by this project and also analysis of data supported by the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We first list papers published in refereed journals, then conference proceedings and book chapters, and also an educational web site.

McCray, Richard↗

NASA NTRS1999

The Impact of SN1987A with its Circumstellar Ring

Following is final report on the study "The Impact of SN1987A with its Circumstellar Ring", which is now complete. In 1994, it was predicted that the blast wave from SN1987A would strike the circumstellar ring in AD1999+/-3, and that the ring would brighten by several hundreds optically as the shock entered the ring. It was also predicted that the emission lines from the shocked ring would have linewidths of a few hundred km/s. Today, we see a "hot spot" on the ring that first appeared in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images in 1995 and has doubled in brightness between August 1997 and February 1998. Moreover, spectra from STIS show that the emission lines from the hot spot have widths and blue shifts of order 200 km/s, just as we predicted in 1994. Our guess of 1999+/-3 for the impact time was lucky, because we assumed that the hot gas in the bubble between the supernova and the ring had a low density (approximately 10 cm(exp -3)). But it was pointed out that the ROSAT observations of soft X-rays from SN 1987A implied that the intervening gas had a higher density, (approximately 100 cm(exp -3)), which would delay the impact until ca. 2007. Others developed hydrodynamic models to fit the ROSAT X-ray emission spectrum and came to the same conclusion. But these models were oversimplified in that they assumed that the ring was perfectly round. Now we see clearly that the hot spot is a peninsula that protrudes inward from the ring -- the first spot on the ring to be struck by the blast wave. No doubt there are other protrusions on the ring, which we may expect to light up in the next few years until they finally merge to set the entire ring ablaze, probably within 5 - 10 years. It was also predicted that the X-ray emission must be accompanied by optical and ultraviolet emission from atoms in the supernova debris and in the circumstellar gas that cross the reverse shock and the blast wave, respectively, and that the Lyman-alpha and NV emission lines should be bright enough to see with the STIS.

McCray, Richard↗

NASA NTRS1998

New Hubble Space Telescope Observations of High-Velocity Ly(alpha) and H(alpha) in SNR 1987A

We describe and model high-velocity (approximately 15,000 km S(exp -1)) Ly Alpha and H Alpha emission from the supernova remnant SNR 1987A seen in 1997 September and October with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Part of this emission comes from a reverse shock located at approximately 75% of the radius of the inner boundary ofthe innercircumstellar ring and confined within + or - 30 degrees of the equatorial plane. Departure from axisymmetry in the Ly Alpha and H Alpha emission correlates with that seen in nonthermal radio emission and reveals an asymmetry in the circumstellar gas distribution. We also see diffuse high-velocity Ly-Alpha emission from supernova debris inside the reverse shock that may be due to excitation by nonthermal particles accelerated by the shock.

Michael, Eli↗

NASA NTRS1998

High-Velocity Ly(Alpha) Emission from SMR 1987A

The high-velocity Ly(Alpha) emission from SN 1987A observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) evidently comes from a reverse shock formed where the outer envelope of SN 1987A strikes ionized gas inside the inner circumstellar ring. The observations can be explained by a simple kinematic model, in which the Ly(Alpha) emission comes from hydrogen atoms with radial velocity approximately 15,000 km s(exp -1) crossing a reverse shock in the shape of a slightly prolate ellipsoid with equatorial radius 4.8 x 10(exp 17) cm or approximately 80% of the distance to the inner surface of the inner ring. N v double Lambda 1239, 1243 emission, if present, has a net luminosity approximately less than 30% times that of the Ly(Alpha) emission. Future STIS observations should enable us to predict the time of impact with the inner ring and to determine unambiguously whether or not N v emission is present. These observations will offer a unique opportunity to probe the structure of SN 1987A's circumstellar environment and the hydrodynamics and kinetics of very fast shocks.

Michael, Eli↗

NASA NTRS1996

Ultraviolet Opacity and Fluorescence in Supernova Envelopes

By the time the expanding envelope of a Type 2 supernova becomes transparent in the optical continuum, most of the gamma-ray luminosity produced by radioactive Fe/Co/Ni clumps propagates into the hydrogen/helium envelope and is deposited there, if at all. The resulting fast electrons excite He 1 and H 1, the two- photon continua of which are the dominant internal sources of ultraviolet radiation. The UV radiation is blocked by scattering in thousands of resonance lines of metals and converted by fluorescence into optical and infrared emission lines that escape freely. We describe results of Monte Carlo calculations that simulate non-LTE scattering and fluorescence in more than five million allowed lines of Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni. For a model approximating conditions in the envelope of SN 1987A, the calculated emergent spectrum resembles the observed one. For the first 2 yr after explosion, the ultraviolet radiation (lambda less than or approximately equals 3000) is largely blocked and converted into a quasi continuum of many thousands of weak optical and infrared emission lines and some prominent emission features, such as the Ca 2 lambdalambda8600 triplet. Later, as the envelope cools and expands, it becomes more transparent, and an increasing fraction of the luminosity emerges in the UV band.

Li, Hongwei↗

NASA NTRS1995

Hydrogen Molecules in SN 1987A

The observations of CO and SiO in the infrared spectrum of SN 1987A clearly indicate that molecules can form in the debris of a supernova explosion. Since H2 is not easily observable we compute its abundance theoretically. For conditions typical of the inner (v less than 2500 km/s) envelope of SN 1987A, the fraction of H that is in molecular form rises to approx. 1% by t approx. 800 days. For t less than 500 days the formation is dominated by the gas-phase reactions H + H(+) yields H2(+) + hv; H2(+) + H yields H2 + H(+). Thereafter, the formation is dominated by the reactions H + e yields H(-) + hv; H(-) + H yields H2 + e. At early times the H(-) may absorb approx. 10%-30% of visible photons, contributing to the apparent paucity of H alpha emission. For t greater than 1000 days the abundance of H2 'freezes out' due to the slowing of all reactions. The opacity of the supernova envelope in the range 912 less than lambda less than or approx. equal to 1400 A (the upper limit depending on temperature) is dominated by resonance scattering in the Lyman and Werner bands of H2. The resulting fluorescence emission bands of H2 in the range 1150 less than lambda less than 1650 A may be observable in the UV spectra of supernovae at late times.

Culhane, Michael↗

NASA NTRS1993

Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel in SN 1987A

During the first several weeks after the explosion of SN 1987A, Fe/Co/Ni clumps, containing approx. 1% of the mass of the supernova envelope, absorbed most of the energy release by Ni-56 and Co-56 decay. As a result, the clumps expanded relative to the substrate, forming a 'nickel bubble' of low-density Fe/Co/Ni. Later the clumps captured approx. 10% of the radioactive luminosity of gamma rays and positrons. Assuming that these elements are not mixed microscopically with other elements, we find that the clumps must occupy approx. greater than 30% of the volume of the emitting region (radial velocity approx. less than 2500 km/s). The result indicates that the emission at late times is dominated by an extra source of heating and ionization, most likely photoionization by two-photon continuum from metastable helium in the gas surrounding the clumps. The resulting 'frothy' structure, consisting of bubbles of low-density Fe surrounded by higher-density filaments of H, He, and other elements, will persist and may be seen in the spectra and structure of supernova remnants.

Li, Hongwei↗