Supernova 1604, Kepler's supernova, and its remnant

Abstract

Supernova 1604 is the last Galactic supernova for which historical records exist. Johannes Kepler's name is attached to it, as he published a detailed account of the observations made by himself and European colleagues. Supernova 1604 was very likely a Type Ia supernova, which exploded 350 pc to 750 pc above the Galactic plane. Its supernova remnant, known as Kepler's supernova remnant, shows clear evidence for interaction with nitrogen-rich material in the north/northwest part of the remnant, which, given the height above the Galactic plane, must find its origin in mass loss from the supernova progenitor system. The combination of a Type Ia supernova and the presence of circumstellar material makes Kepler's supernova remnant a unique object to study the origin of Type Ia supernovae. The evidence suggests that the progenitor binary system of supernova 1604 consisted of a carbon- oxygen white dwarf and an evolved companion star, which most likely was in the (post) asymptotic giant branch of its evolution. A problem with this scenario is that the companion star must have survived the explosion, but no trace of its existence has yet been found, despite a deep search. 1 Introduction; 2 The supernova remnant, its distance and multiwavelength properties; 2.1 Position, distance estimates and SN1604 as a runaway system; 2.2 X-ray imaging spectroscopy and SN1604 as a Type Ia supernova 2.3 The circumstellar medium as studied in the optical and infrared; 3 The dynamics of Kepler's SNR; 3.1 Velocity measurements; 3.2 Hydrodynamical simulations; 4 The progenitor system of SN 1604; 4.1 Elevated circumstellar nitrogen abundances, silicates and a single degenerate scenario for SN1604; 4.2 Problems with a single degenerate Type Ia scenario for SN 1604; 4.3 Was SN 1604 a core-degenerate Type Ia explosion?; 4.4 What can we learn from the historical light curve of SN 1604? ; 5 Conclusions

Final draft of a chapter in "Handbook of Supernovae" edited by Athem W. Alsabti and Paul Murdin (23 pages, 5 figures). V2 has a small mistake corrected. Final print version can be found here: http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_49-1

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• No surviving companion in Kepler's supernova
• Spatially Resolved RGS Analysis of Kepler's Supernova Remnant
• A Nucleosynthetic Origin for the Southwestern Fe-rich Structure in Kepler's Supernova Remnant
• Characterization of the GeV emission from the Kepler supernova remnant
• Production of secondary particles in heavy nuclei interactions in supernova remnants
• Search for gamma rays from SNe with a variable-size sliding-time-window analysis of the Fermi-LAT data
• Element Stratification in the Middle-Aged Type Ia Supernova Remnant G344.7-0.1
• Witnessing History: Rates and Detectability of Naked-Eye Milky-Way Supernovae
• Asymmetric Expansion of the Fe ejecta in Kepler's Supernova Remnant
• Evidence for gamma-ray emission from the remnant of Kepler's supernova based on deep H.E.S.S. observations