A stubbornly large mass of cold dust in the ejecta of Supernova 1987A

Matsuura, Mikako ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-5593, Dwek, E., Barlow, M. J., Babler, B., Baes, M., Meixner, M., Cernicharo, José, Clayton, Geoff C., Dunne, Loretta ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9880-2543, Fransson, C., Fritz, Jacopo, Gear, Walter Kieran ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6789-6196, Gomez, Haley Louise ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3398-0052, Groenewegen, M. A. T., Indebetouw, R., Ivison, R. J., Jerkstrand, A., Lebouteiller, V., Lim, T. L., Lundqvist, P., Pearson, C. P., Roman-Duval, J., Royer, P., Staveley-Smith, Lister, Swinyard, Bruce, van Hoof, P. A. M., van Loon, J. Th., Verstappen, Joris, Wesson, Roger, Zanardo, Giovanna, Blommaert, Joris A. D. L., Decin, Leen, Reach, W. T., Sonneborn, George, Van de Steene, Griet C. and Yates, Jeremy A. 2015. A stubbornly large mass of cold dust in the ejecta of Supernova 1987A. Astrophysical Journal 800 (1) , 50. 10.1088/0004-637X/800/1/50

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Abstract

We present new Herschel photometric and spectroscopic observations of Supernova 1987A, carried out in 2012. Our dedicated photometric measurements provide new 70 micron data and improved imaging quality at 100 and 160 micron compared to previous observations in 2010. Our Herschel spectra show only weak CO line emission, and provide an upper limit for the 63 micron [O I] line flux, eliminating the possibility that line contaminations distort the previously estimated dust mass. The far-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) is well fitted by thermal emission from cold dust. The newly measured 70 micron flux constrains the dust temperature, limiting it to nearly a single temperature. The far-infrared emission can be fitted by 0.5+-0.1 Msun of amorphous carbon, about a factor of two larger than the current nucleosynthetic mass prediction for carbon. The observation of SiO molecules at early and late phases suggests that silicates may also have formed and we could fit the SED with a combination of 0.3 Msun of amorphous carbon and 0.5 Msun of silicates, totalling 0.8 Msun of dust. Our analysis thus supports the presence of a large dust reservoir in the ejecta of SN 1987A. The inferred dust mass suggests that supernovae can be an important source of dust in the interstellar medium, from local to high-redshift galaxies.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Additional Information:	Full text PDF uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0004-637X/ [Accessed 18/03/15]
Publisher:	American Astronomical Society
ISSN:	1538-4357
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	18 November 2014
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2024 15:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/70914

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