Chandra HETG Spectra of SN 1987A at 20 years

Abstract

We have undertaken deep, high-resolution observations of SN 1987A at ~20 years after its explosion with the Chandra HETG and LETG spectrometers. Here we present the HETG X-ray spectra of SN 1987A having unprecedented spectral resolution and signal-to-noise in the 6 A to 20 A bandpass, which includes the H-like and He-like lines of Si, Mg, Ne, as well as O VIII lines and bright Fe XVII lines. In joint analysis with LETG data, we find that there has been a significant decrease from 2004 to 2007 in the average temperature of the highest temperature component of the shocked-plasma emission. Model fitting of the profiles of individual HETG lines yields bulk kinematic velocities of the higher-Z ions, Mg and Si, that are significantly lower than those inferred from the LETG 2004 observations.

12 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (7)

• Evolutionary Status of SNR 1987A at the Age of Eighteen
• Chandra LETG Observations of Supernova Remnant 1987A
• XMM-Newton observations of SN1987A
• X-ray Spectroscopy of the Contact Binary VW Cephei
• Chandra Observations of Supernova 1987A
• Dust-Gas Interaction in SNR 1987A
• X-ray Evolution of SN 1987A

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Collisionless shock heating of heavy ions in SN 1987A
• Time evolution of the line emission from the inner circumstellar ring of SN 1987A and its hot spots
• Thermal Emission and Radioactive Lines, but No Pulsar, in the Broadband X-Ray Spectrum of Supernova 1987A
• Spectral Evolution of the X-Ray Remnant of SN 1987A: A High-Resolution $Chandra$ HETG Study
• X-ray ejecta kinematics of the Galactic core-collapse supernova remnant G292.0+1.8
• High-cadence Dispersed Spectral Analysis of Supernova Remnant 1987A
• Latest Evolution of the X-Ray Remnant of SN 1987A: Beyond the Inner Ring
• The Exceptional X-ray Evolution of SN1996cr in High Resolution