Measuring the post-shock temperatures of heavy ions in SN 1987A
Abstract
The shock waves originated from supernova explosions provide crucial information on the physics of shock heating. Astrophysical shocks are typically collisionless and electrons, protons, and ions are expected to be heated at different temperatures, but the actual dependence of the post-shock temperature on the particle mass is still debated. We tackle this long standing issue through the analysis of high-resolution observations of SN 1987A, made with the Chandra X-ray telescope in 2007 and 2011, and we also include the latest 2018 observation in our analysis. We study the observed spectra in close comparison with a dedicated full 3-D hydrodynamic simulation. The simulation is able to reproduce self-consistently the whole broadening of the spectral lines of many ions altogether. We could therefore measure the post shock temperature of protons and selected ions. We found that the ion to proton temperature ratio is always significantly higher than one and increases linearly with the ion mass for a wide range of masses. Thanks to the new 2018 deep observation we are also able to further extend our results for a wide range of shock parameters.
- Publication:
-
Supernova Remnants: An Odyssey in Space after Stellar Death II
- Pub Date:
- June 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019sros.confE.108M