Phosphorus in the Young Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

Abstract

Phosphorus (${}^{31}$P), which is essential for life, is thought to be synthesized in massive stars and dispersed into interstellar space when these stars explode as supernovae (SNe). Here we report on near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the young SN remnant Cassiopeia A, which show that the abundance ratio of phosphorus to the major nucleosynthetic product iron (${}^{56}$Fe) in SN material is up to 100 times the average ratio of the Milky Way, confirming that phosphorus is produced in SNe. The observed range is compatible with predictions from SN nucleosynthetic models but not with the scenario in which the chemical elements in the inner SN layers are completely mixed by hydrodynamic instabilities during the explosion.

32 pages, 8 figures, including online supporting material; published in Science on 12 December 2013

References in corpus (4)

• Galactic chemical evolution: Carbon through Zinc
• The Cassiopeia A Supernova was of Type IIB
• The Expansion Asymmetry and Age of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• Freshly Formed Dust in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant as Revealed by the Spitzer Space Telescope

Cited by in corpus (30)

• ALMA and ROSINA detections of phosphorus-bearing molecules: the interstellar thread between star-forming regions and comets
• First detections of the key prebiotic molecule PO in star-forming regions
• Phosphorus-bearing molecules in the Galactic Center
• The chemistry of phosphorus-bearing molecules under energetic phenomena
• Phosphorus-bearing molecules in massive dense cores
• Infrared [Fe II] Emission Lines from Radiative Atomic Shocks
• On the origin of phosphorus nitride in star-forming regions
• Phosphorus-rich stars with unusual abundances are challenging theoretical predictions
• First extragalactic detection of a phosphorus-bearing molecule with ALCHEMI: phosphorus nitride (PN)
• Near-infrared [Fe II] and H${}_2$ Emission-line Study of Galactic Supernova Remnants in the First Quadrant
• Near-Infrared Knots and Dense Fe Ejecta in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• The Galactic Distribution of Phosphorus: A Survey of 163 Disk and Halo Stars
• A Deep Near-Infrared [Fe II]+[Si I] Emission Line Image of the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
• The Temperature and Ionization of Unshocked Ejecta in Cas A
• Near-infrared Extinction due to Cool Supernova Dust in Cassiopeia A
• Near-infrared spectroscopy of nearby Seyfert galaxies: Is there evidence for the shock excitation in narrow-line regions?
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Young Galactic Supernova Remnants
• The optical and near-infrared spectrum of the Crab pulsar with X-shooter
• The first detections of the key prebiotic molecule PO in star-forming regions
• The present-day cosmic phosphorus abundance
• Single-photon photoionization of oxygen-like Ne III
• Chlorine and Potassium Enrichment in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• ACA observation and chemical modelling of phosphorus nitride (PN) towards the hot molecular cores G10.47+0.03 and G31.41+0.31
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Dense Ejecta Knots in the Outer Eastern Area of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• Collision strengths for FIR and UV transtions in PIII and the phosphorus abundance
• Biosignature Line Ratios of [P II] in Exoplanetary and Nebular Environments
• Formation of phosphorus monoxide (PO) in the interstellar medium: insights from quantum-chemical and kinetic calculations
• SNR G292.0+1.8: A Remnant of a Low-Mass Progenitor Stripped-Envelope Supernova
• Survival of Molecular Complexity under Recent Supernova Feedback: Detection of Hot Cores in RX J1713.7-3946
• The Wide Integral Field Infrared Spectrograph: Commissioning Results and On-sky Performance