Light Echoes and Environment of SN 2014J in M82
Abstract
Supernova 2014J is likely the closest Type Ia SN since 1885. This offers us a unique opportunity to study the environment of SNe Ia, here at a level of detail several times better than any other, farther SN Ia observed by HST. Prime tools for probing this environment, supernova light echoes, are likely to succeed given what we know about where this SN resides in its host galaxy, M82. M82 is a spacial galaxy in terms of star formation activity, and SN 2014J offers a special probe of this galaxy since it is a Ia, not core collapse SN, so more likely to sample the structure of M82 more typically, rather than centered on a region recently producing massive stars, such as a core-collapse progenitor. We describe how the light echo mapping that will be provided by the proposed observations will produce a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of a large part of M82, and how this can be directly compared to models of the interstellar medium to learn how star formation feeds back into the gaseous structure of galaxies. This comparison is arguably only possible with SN light echoes, of which SN 2014J is likely to provide the most useful example.
- Publication:
-
HST Proposal
- Pub Date:
- December 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015hst..prop13626L