Dust destruction and survival in the Cassiopeia A reverse shock

Priestley, F. D., Arias, M., Barlow, M. J. and De Looze, I. 2022. Dust destruction and survival in the Cassiopeia A reverse shock. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 509 (3) , 3163–3171. 10.1093/mnras/stab3195

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Abstract

Core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) produce large (⁠≳0.1M⊙⁠) masses of dust, and are potentially the primary source of dust in the Universe, but much of this dust may be destroyed before reaching the interstellar medium. Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is the only supernova remnant where an observational measurement of the dust destruction efficiency in the reverse shock is possible at present. We determine the pre- and post-shock dust masses in Cas A using a substantially improved dust emission model. In our preferred models, the unshocked ejecta contains 0.6−0.8M⊙ of 0.1μm silicate grains, while the post-shock ejecta has 0.02−0.09M⊙ of 5−10nm grains in dense clumps, and 2×10−3M⊙ of 0.1μm grains in the diffuse X-ray emitting shocked ejecta. The implied dust destruction efficiency is 74−94percent in the clumps and 92−98percent overall, giving Cas A a final dust yield of 0.05−0.30M⊙⁠. If the unshocked ejecta grains are larger than 0.1μm⁠, the dust masses are higher, the destruction efficiencies are lower, and the final yield may exceed 0.5M⊙⁠. As Cas A has a dense circumstellar environment and thus a much stronger reverse shock than is typical, the average dust destruction efficiency across all CCSNe is likely to be lower, and the average dust yield higher. This supports a mostly stellar origin for the cosmic dust budget.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Royal Astronomical Society
ISSN:	0035-8711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 December 2021
Date of Acceptance:	30 October 2021
Last Modified:	10 May 2023 12:56
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/145764

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