Spectral and morphological analysis of the remnant of Supernova 1987A with ALMA and ATCA

Zanardo, Giovanna, Staveley-Smith, Lister, Indebetouw, Remy, Chevalier, Roger A., Matsuura, Mikako ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-5593, Gaensler, Bryan M., Barlow, Michael J., Fransson, Claes, Manchester, Richard N., Baes, Maarten, Kamenetzky, Julia R., Lakicevic, Masa, Lundqvist, Peter, Marcaide, Jon M., Marti-Vidal, Ivan, Meixner, Margaret, Ng, C. -Y., Park, Sangwook, Sonneborn, George, Spyromilio, Jason and van Loon, Jacco Th. 2014. Spectral and morphological analysis of the remnant of Supernova 1987A with ALMA and ATCA. Astrophysical Journal 796 (2) , 82. 10.1088/0004-637X/796/2/82

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Abstract

We present a comprehensive spectral and morphological analysis of the remnant of supernova (SN) 1987A with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The non-thermal and thermal components of the radio emission are investigated in images from 94 to 672 GHz (λ 3.2 mm to 450 μm), with the assistance of a high-resolution 44 GHz synchrotron template from the ATCA, and a dust template from ALMA observations at 672 GHz. An analysis of the emission distribution over the equatorial ring in images from 44 to 345 GHz highlights a gradual decrease of the east-to-west asymmetry ratio with frequency. We attribute this to the shorter synchrotron lifetime at high frequencies. Across the transition from radio to far infrared, both the synchrotron/dust-subtracted images and the spectral energy distribution (SED) suggest additional emission beside the main synchrotron component (Sν∝ν−0.73) and the thermal component originating from dust grains at T ~ 22 K. This excess could be due to free–free flux or emission from grains of colder dust. However, a second flat-spectrum synchrotron component appears to better fit the SED, implying that the emission could be attributed to a pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The residual emission is mainly localized west of the SN site, as the spectral analysis yields −0.4 lesssim α lesssim −0.1 across the western regions, with α ~ 0 around the central region. If there is a PWN in the remnant interior, these data suggest that the pulsar may be offset westward from the SN position.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ISM: supernova remnants; radiation mechanisms: non-thermal; radiation mechanisms: thermal; radio continuum: general; stars: neutron; supernovae: individual (SN 1987A)
Publisher:	IOP Science
ISSN:	0004-637X
Date of Acceptance:	26 September 2014
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2022 10:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/69874

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