X-ray illumination of the ejecta of Supernova 1987A

Abstract

We present the late-time optical light curve of the ejecta of SN 1987A measured from HST imaging observations spanning the past 17 years. We find that the flux from the ejecta declined up to around year 2001, powered by the radioactive decay of 44Ti. Then the flux started to increase, more than doubling by the end of 2009. We show that the increase is the result of energy deposited by X-rays produced in the interaction with the circumstellar medium. We suggest that the change of the dominant energy input to the ejecta, from internal to external, marks the transition from supernova to supernova remnant. The details of the observations and the modelling are described in the accompanying supplementary information.

arXiv commentTo appear in Nature on 23 June 2011 (already available online). 39 pages with 10 figures

References in corpus (19)

• Radiation hydrodynamics of SN 1987A: I. Global analysis of the light curve for the first 4 months
• The Axially Symmetric Ejecta of Supernova 1987A
• The 44Ti-powered spectrum of SN 1987A
• The Triple-Ring Nebula around SN1987A: Fingerprint of a binary merger
• The Production of Ti44 and Co60 in Supernova
• The 3-D Structure of SN 1987A's inner Ejecta
• Multi-frequency Radio Measurements of SN 1987A over 22 Years
• Five Years of Mid-Infrared Evolution of the Remnant of SN 1987A: The Encounter Between the Blast Wave and the Dusty Equatorial Ring
• Modelling the Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet and Optical Spectrum of Spot 1 on the Circumstellar Ring of SN 1987A
• Radioactivities and nucleosynthesis in SN 1987A
• Limits from the Hubble Space Telescope on a Point Source in SN 1987A
• Time evolution of the line emission from the inner circumstellar ring of SN 1987A and its hot spots
• X-ray Evolution of SNR 1987A: The Radial Expansion
• Observing Supernova 1987A with the Refurbished Hubble Space Telescope
• The outer rings of SN1987A
• Evolution of the Chandra CCD Spectra of SNR 1987A: Probing the Reflected-Shock Picture
• Evolution of the Reverse Shock Emission from SNR 1987A
• The reverse shock of SNR1987A at 18 years after outburst
• Young Supernova Remnants: Issues and Prospects

Cited by in corpus (46)

• Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae
• Herschel Detects a Massive Dust Reservoir in Supernova 1987A
• Dust Production and Particle Acceleration in Supernova 1987A Revealed with ALMA
• Hard X-ray emission lines from the decay of Ti-44 in the remnant of supernova 1987A
• Thermal and non-thermal emission from circumstellar interaction
• Pushing 1D CCSNe to explosions: model and SN 1987A
• Gamma-ray novae as probes of relativistic particle acceleration at non-relativistic shocks
• High angular resolution ALMA images of dust and molecules in the SN 1987A ejecta
• Late-Time Optical Emission From Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Rayleigh-Taylor instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of the Crab Nebula
• Supernova 1987A: a Template to Link Supernovae to their Remnants
• The light curve of SN 1987A revisited: constraining production masses of radioactive nuclides
• The fully developed remnant of a neutrino-driven supernova: Evolution of ejecta structure and asymmetries in SNR Cassiopeia A
• The Destruction of the Circumstellar Ring of SN 1987A
• Three-dimensional distribution of ejecta in Supernova 1987A at 10 000 days
• Spectral and morphological analysis of the remnant of Supernova 1987A with ALMA & ATCA
• Very Deep Inside the SN 1987A Core Ejecta: Molecular Structures Seen in 3D
• The morphology of the ejecta in Supernova 1987A: a study over time and wavelength
• Particle acceleration by shocks in supernova remnants
• Long-rising Type II supernovae from PTF and CCCP
• Hypercritical Accretion onto a Newborn Neutron Star and Magnetic Field Submergence
• High-resolution radio observations of SNR 1987A at high frequencies
• Late Spectral Evolution of the Ejecta and Reverse Shock in SN1987A
• Statistical Methods for Thermonuclear Reaction Rates and Nucleosynthesis Simulations
• HST-COS Observations of Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon and Nitrogen Emission from the SN 1987A Reverse Shock
• Neutrino Signal of Collapse-Induced Thermonuclear Supernovae: The Case for Prompt Black Hole Formation in SN1987A
• The 30-Year Search for the Compact Object in SN 1987A
• The matter beyond the ring: the recent evolution of SN 1987A observed by the Hubble Space Telescope
• JWST NIRSpec observations of Supernova 1987A -- from the inner ejecta to the reverse shock
• Discovery of molecular hydrogen in SN 1987A
• Cosmic nucleosynthesis: a multi-messenger challenge
• A 3D Simulation of a Type II-P Supernova: from Core Bounce to Beyond Shock Breakout
• Apparent Correction to the Speed of Light in a Gravitational Potential
• Luminous blue variables: An imaging perspective on their binarity and near environment
• The resonance triplet at E_alpha = 4.5 MeV in the 40Ca(alpha,gamma)44Ti reaction
• Zooming in on Supernova 1987A at sub-mm wavelengths
• Don't Blink: Constraining the Circumstellar Environment of the Interacting Type Ia Supernova 2015cp
• Mapping High-velocity H-alpha and Lyman-alpha Emission from Supernova 1987A
• A 3D view of molecular hydrogen in Supernova 1987A
• A Search for Infrared Emission from Core-Collapse Supernovae at the Transitional Phase
• The morphology of the ejecta of SN 1987A at 31 years from 1150 to 10000 Å
• Tracing the ejecta structure of SN 1987A: Insights and diagnostics from 3D MHD simulations
• Radiative-transfer models for dusty Type II supernovae
• Synthesis of radioactive elements in novae and supernovae and their use as a diagnostic tool
• The radio remnant of Supernova 1987A at high frequencies and high resolution
• The position of SN 1987A