Infrared Echoes Reveal the Shock Breakout of the Cas A Supernova

Dwek, Eli; Arendt, Richard G.

doi:10.1086/589988

Cited by 43 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(53 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The SN becomes visible when the shock breaks through the surface of the star. Shock breakout has been the subject of numerous analytical studies (Colgate 1974;Matzner & McKee 1999;Nakar & Sari 2010;Piro et al 2010;Katz et al 2012) and numerical studies (Ensman & Burrows 1992;Blinnikov et al 2000;Tominaga et al 2009;Tolstov 2010;Kasen et al 2011;Blinnikov & Tolstov 2011;Tolstov et al 2013) in the past thirty years but has not been observed until more recently (e.g., Soderberg et al 2008;Gezari et al 2008;Schawinski et al 2008;Dwek & Arendt 2008).…”

Section: Spectramentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding the First Cosmic Explosions. I. Pair-Instability Supernovae

Whalen

Even

Frey

et al. 2013

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The first stars are the key to the formation of primitive galaxies, early cosmological reionization and chemical enrichment, and the origin of supermassive black holes. Unfortunately, in spite of their extreme luminosities, individual Population III stars will likely remain beyond the reach of direct observation for decades to come. However, their properties could be revealed by their supernova explosions, which may soon be detected by a new generation of NIR observatories such as JWST and WFIRST. We present light curves and spectra for Pop III pair-instability supernovae calculated with the Los Alamos radiation hydrodynamics code RAGE. Our numerical simulations account for the interaction of the blast with realistic circumstellar envelopes, the opacity of the envelope, and Lyman absorption by the neutral IGM at high redshift, all of which are crucial to computing the NIR signatures of the first cosmic explosions. We find that JWST will detect pair-instability supernovae out to z 30, WFIRST will detect them in all-sky surveys out to z ∼ 15 -20 and LSST and Pan-STARRS will find them at z 7 − 8. The discovery of these ancient explosions will probe the first stellar populations and reveal the existence of primitive galaxies that might not otherwise have been detected.

show abstract

Section: Spectramentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding the First Cosmic Explosions. I. Pair-Instability Supernovae

Whalen

Even

Frey

et al. 2013

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The SEDs of such echoes tend to peak in the 20-100 μm region, allowing echo detection in nearby galaxies by Spitzer during its cold mission. Spitzerbased evidence of this phenomenon in the Milky Way Galaxy has been presented for the Cassiopeia A SN (Krause et al 2005;Kim et al 2008;Dwek & Arendt 2008). Meikle et al (2007) showed that an IS IR echo provided a natural explanation for the strength and decline of the 24 μm flux between 670-681 days and 1264 days in SN 2003gd in the SA(s)c galaxy NGC 628 (M74).…”

Section: An Interstellar Echomentioning

confidence: 99%

DUST AND THE TYPE II-PLATEAU SUPERNOVA 2004dj

Meikle¹,

Kotak²,

Farrah³

et al. 2011

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy of a Type II-plateau supernova, SN 2004dj, obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, spanning 106-1393 days after explosion. MIR photometry plus optical/near-IR observations are also reported. An early-time MIR excess is attributed to emission from non-silicate dust formed within a cool dense shell (CDS). Most of the CDS dust condensed between 50 days and 165 days, reaching a mass of 0.3 × 10 −5 M . Throughout the observations, much of the longer wavelength (>10 μm) part of the continuum is explained as an IR echo from interstellar dust. The MIR excess strengthened at later times. We show that this was due to thermal emission from warm, non-silicate dust formed in the ejecta. Using optical/near-IR line profiles and the MIR continua, we show that the dust was distributed as a disk whose radius appeared to be shrinking slowly. The disk radius may correspond to a grain destruction zone caused by a reverse shock which also heated the dust. The dust-disk lay nearly face-on, had high opacities in the optical/near-IR regions, but remained optically thin in the MIR over much of the period studied. Assuming a uniform dust density, the ejecta dust mass by 996 days was (0.5 ± 0.1) × 10 −4 M and exceeded 10 −4 M by 1393 days. For a dust density rising toward the center the limit is higher. Nevertheless, this study suggests that the amount of freshly synthesized dust in the SN 2004dj ejecta is consistent with that found from previous studies and adds further weight to the claim that such events could not have been major contributors to the cosmic dust budget.

show abstract

“…Their main scientific conclusion is that most if not all of these IR echoes are caused by a recent X-ray flare of the Cas A SNR based on their apparent motions. However, the analysis was flawed because it did not account for the fact that the apparent motion strongly depends on the inclination of the scattering dust filament (Dwek & Arendt 2008;Rest et al, in preparation). Figure 4 illustrates how different dust sheet inclinations produce different apparent LE motions.…”

Section: Apparent Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, their main scientific conclusion that the cause of most if not all of these IR echoes was a series of recent X-ray outbursts from the compact object in the Cas A SNR turned out to be incorrect. They neglected to take into account the fact that the apparent motion depends strongly on the inclination of the scattering dust filament (Dwek & Arendt 2008; see also Section 3.3). Instead, the IR echoes are much more likely caused by the intense and short burst of EUV-UV radiation associated with the shock breakout of the Cas A SN itself (Dwek & Arendt 2008).…”

Section: Cas a Snmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They neglected to take into account the fact that the apparent motion depends strongly on the inclination of the scattering dust filament (Dwek & Arendt 2008; see also Section 3.3). Instead, the IR echoes are much more likely caused by the intense and short burst of EUV-UV radiation associated with the shock breakout of the Cas A SN itself (Dwek & Arendt 2008). Kim et al (2008) used the IR echoes to reconstruct the 3D structure of the absorbing dust filaments.…”

Section: Cas a Snmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Light Echoes of Transients and Variables in the Local Universe

Rest

Sinnott

Welch

2012

Publ. – Astron. Soc. Aust

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Astronomical light echoes, the time-dependent light scattered by dust in the vicinity of varying objects, have been recognized for over a century. Initially, their utility was thought to be confined to mapping out the three-dimensional distribution of interstellar dust. Recently, the discovery of spectroscopically useful light echoes around centuries-old supernovae in the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud has opened up new scientific opportunities to exploit light echoes.In this review, we describe the history of light echoes in the local Universe and cover the many new developments in both the observation of light echoes and the interpretation of the light scattered from them. Among other benefits, we highlight our new ability to classify outbursting objects spectroscopically, view them from multiple perspectives, obtain a spectroscopic time series of the outburst, and establish accurate distances to the source event. We also describe the broader range of variable objects with properties that may be better understood from light-echo observations. Finally, we discuss the prospects of new light-echo techniques not yet realized in practice.

show abstract

Infrared Echoes Reveal the Shock Breakout of the Cas A Supernova

Cited by 43 publications

References 32 publications

Finding the First Cosmic Explosions. I. Pair-Instability Supernovae

Finding the First Cosmic Explosions. I. Pair-Instability Supernovae

DUST AND THE TYPE II-PLATEAU SUPERNOVA 2004dj

Light Echoes of Transients and Variables in the Local Universe

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About