Published in

American Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 1(782), p. L2, 2014

DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/782/1/l2

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Dust Production and Particle Acceleration in Supernova 1987a Revealed With Alma

Journal article published in 2014 by R. Indebetouw, M. Matsuura, E. Dwek, G. Zanardo ORCID, Mj J. Barlow, Maarten Baes ORCID, P. Bouchet, Dn N. Burrows, R. Chevalier, Gc C. Clayton ORCID, C. Fransson, B. Gaensler ORCID, R. Kirshner, M. Lakicevic, Ks S. Long and other authors.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Upload
Policy details
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Supernova (SN) explosions are crucial engines driving the evolution of galaxies by shock heating gas, increasing the metallicity, creating dust, and accelerating energetic particles. In 2012 we used the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array to observe SN 1987A, one of the best-observed supernovae since the invention of the telescope. We present spatially resolved images at 450 mu m, 870 mu m, 1.4 mm, and 2.8 mm, an important transition wavelength range. Longer wavelength emission is dominated by synchrotron radiation from shock-accelerated particles, shorter wavelengths by emission from the largest mass of dust measured in a supernova remnant (>0.2 M-circle dot). For the first time we show unambiguously that this dust has formed in the inner ejecta (the cold remnants of the exploded star's core). The dust emission is concentrated at the center of the remnant, so the dust has not yet been affected by the shocks. If a significant fraction survives, and if SN 1987A is typical, supernovae are important cosmological dust producers.