Cassiopeia A and its Clumpy Presupernova Wind

Abstract

The observed shock wave positions and expansion in Cas A can be interpreted in a model of supernova interaction with a freely expanding stellar wind with a mass loss rate of ~3e-5 Msun/yr for a wind velocity of 10 km/s. The wind was probably still being lost at the time of the supernova, which may have been of Type IIn or IIb. The wind may play a role in the formation of very fast knots observed in Cas A. In this model, the quasi-stationary flocculi (QSFs) represent clumps in the wind, with a density contrast of several 1000 compared to the smooth wind. The outer, unshocked clumpy wind is photoionized by radiation from the supernova, and is observed as a patchy HII region around Cas A. This gas has a lower density than the QSFs and is heated by nonradiative shocks driven by the blast wave. Denser clumps have recombined and are observed as HI compact absorption features towards Cas A.

13 pages, ApJL, in press

References in corpus (13)

• The Expulsion of Stellar Envelopes in Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Nucleosynthesis and Mixing in Cassiopeia A
• Chandra Detection of the Forward and Reverse Shocks in Cassiopeia-A
• The Expansion Center and Dynamical Age of the Galactic Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
• X-ray spectral imaging and Doppler mapping of Cassiopeia A
• Optical and Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of SN 1995N: Evidence for Strong Circumstellar Interaction
• The Line Emission from the Circumstellar Gas Around SN 1987A
• Where was the Iron Synthesized in Cassiopeia A?
• The First Measurement of Cassiopeia A's Forward Shock Expansion Rate
• Hubble Space Telescope WFPC-2 Imaging of Cassiopeia A
• Modelling the Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet and Optical Spectrum of Spot 1 on the Circumstellar Ring of SN 1987A
• A Comparison of X-ray and Radio Emission from the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
• The X-ray Expansion of the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

Cited by in corpus (88)

• Observed Fractions of Core-Collapse Supernova Types and Initial Masses of their Single and Binary Progenitor Stars
• Supernova remnants: the X-ray perspective
• The Cassiopeia A Supernova was of Type IIB
• Young core collapse supernova remnants and their supernovae
• Asymmetries in core-collapse supernovae from maps of radioactive ${}^{44}$Ti in CassiopeiaA
• A Million-Second Chandra View of Cassiopeia A
• Observational signatures of particle acceleration in supernova remnants
• Constraints on the Progenitor of Cassiopeia A
• On the Determination of Ejecta Structure and Explosion Asymmetry from the X-ray Knots of Cassiopeia A
• The dust mass in Cassiopeia A from a spatially resolved Herschel analysis
• Type IIB Supernovae with Compact and Extended Progenitors
• The signature of 44Ti in Cassiopeia A revealed by IBIS/ISGRI on INTEGRAL
• A Detailed Kinematic Map of Cassiopeia A's Optical Main Shell and Outer High-Velocity Ejecta
• Formation and Evolution of Dust in Type IIb Supernova with Application to the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• Modeling SNR Cassiopeia A from the Supernova Explosion to its Current Age: The role of post-explosion anisotropies of ejecta
• Hubble Space Telescope and Ground-Based Observations of SN 1993J and SN 1998S: CNO Processing in the Progenitors
• Numerical models of collisions between core-collapse supernovae and circumstellar shells
• Where was the Iron Synthesized in Cassiopeia A?
• The Stellar Ancestry of Supernovae in the Magellanic Clouds - I. the Most Recent Supernovae in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Direct evidence of efficient cosmic ray acceleration and magnetic field amplification in Cassiopeia A
• Mechanism for spectral break in cosmic ray proton spectrum from Supernova remnant W44
• Dust Destruction by the Reverse Shock in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• The fully developed remnant of a neutrino-driven supernova: Evolution of ejecta structure and asymmetries in SNR Cassiopeia A
• Dust survival rates in clumps passing through the Cas A reverse shock I: results for a range of clump densities
• Intermediate-Mass-Elements in Young Supernova Remnants Reveal Neutron Star Kicks by Asymmetric Explosions
• Spitzer IRAC Images and Sample Spectra of Cassiopeia A's Explosion
• X-ray emission from radiative shocks in Type II supernovae
• X-rays from the explosion site: Fifteen years of light curves of SN 1993J
• The Three-Dimensional Structure of Interior Ejecta in Cassiopeia A at High Spectral Resolution
• Evidence for proton acceleration up to TeV energies based on VERITAS and Fermi-LAT observations of the Cas A SNR
• X-ray observation of the shocked red supergiant wind of Cassiopeia A
• The Polar Regions of Cassiopeia A: The Aftermath of a Gamma Ray Burst?
• A JWST Survey of the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
• Radio and X-ray Profiles in Supernova Remnants Undergoing Efficient Cosmic Ray Production
• An HST Survey of the Highest-Velocity Ejecta in Cassiopeia A
• Ejecta Knot Flickering, Mass Ablation, and Fragmentation in Cassiopeia A
• Faraday rotation of the supernova remnant G296.5+10.0: Evidence for a Magnetized Progenitor Wind
• X- and Gamma-ray Studies of Cas A: Exposing Core Collapse to the Core
• Kinematics of X-ray Emitting Components in Cassiopeia A
• Low-Frequency Radio Absorption in Cassiopeia A
• [Fe II] and H2 filaments in the Supernova Remnant G11.2-0.3: Supernova Ejecta and Presupernova Circumstellar Wind
• The hydrodynamics of the supernova remnant Cas A: The influence of the progenitor evolution on the velocity structure and clumping
• Nonthermal radiation of young supernova remnants: the case of Cas A
• Acceleration of cosmic rays by young core-collapse supernova remnants
• The Chandra Observation of the Shell of Nova Persei 1901 (GK Persei): Detection of localized Non-thermal X-ray Emission from a Miniature Supernova Remnant
• Jets as diagnostics of the circumstellar medium and the explosion energetics of supernovae: the case of Cas A
• The Shape of Cas A
• The mass, location and heating of the dust in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant
• A Comparison of X-ray and Optical Emission in Cassiopeia A
• The Circumstellar Medium of Cassiopeia A Inferred from the Outer Ejecta Knot Properties
• Measurement of the core-collapse progenitor mass distribution of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• The Outer Shock of the Oxygen-Rich Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8: Evidence for the Interaction with the Stellar Winds from its Massive Progenitor
• X-Ray Studies of Supernova Remnants: A Different View of Supernova Explosions
• Near-infrared [Fe II] and H${}_2$ Emission-line Study of Galactic Supernova Remnants in the First Quadrant
• A Spectroscopic Study of the Rich Supernova Remnant Population in M83
• Hard X-ray emissions from Cassiopeia A observed by INTEGRAL
• The Supernova -- Supernova Remnant Connection
• Molecular gas toward supernova remnant Cassiopeia A
• A Sub-Solar Metallicity Progenitor for Cassiopeia A, the remnant of a Type IIb Supernova
• Exploring the Gamma-Ray Emissivity of Young Supernova Remnants I: Hadronic Emission
• On the mechanism for breaks in the cosmic ray spectrum
• A Deep Near-Infrared [Fe II]+[Si I] Emission Line Image of the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
• Supernova progenitor stars in the initial range of 23 to 33 solar masses and their relation with the SNR Cas A
• Plus Charge Prevalence in Cosmic Rays: Room for Dark Matter in the Positron Spectrum
• Near-Infrared Knots and Dense Fe Ejecta in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• Detection of the Red Supergiant Wind from the Progenitor of Cassiopeia A
• Detection of Pristine Circumstellar Material of the Cassiopeia A Supernova
• The origin of non-thermal X-ray filaments and TeV emission in young SNRs
• Probing Shock Properties with Non-thermal X-ray Filaments in Cas A
• Is Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A a PeVatron?
• Titanium and Iron in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• Free-free absorption parameters of Cassiopeia A from low-frequency interferometric observations
• Discovery of Stable Titanium at the Northeastern Jet of Cassiopeia A: Need for a Weak Jet Mechanism?
• Particle acceleration, escape and non-thermal emission from core-collapse supernovae inside non-identical wind-blown bubbles
• Cosmic-ray current-driven instabilities -- revisiting environmental conditions
• He abundance of Dense Circumstellar Clumps in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• The time-dependent Rayleigh-Taylor instability in interstellar shells and supershells, including the eROSITA bubbles
• X-ray Studies of the Inverted Ejecta Layers in the Southeast Area of Cassiopeia A
• Supernova Remnants as Clues to Their Progenitors
• Titanium hidden in dust
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Dense Ejecta Knots in the Outer Eastern Area of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
• XRISM Observations of Cassiopeia A: Overview, Atomic Data, and Spectral Models
• X-ray polarization in SN 1006 southwest shows spatial variations and differences with the radio band
• Infrared [Fe II] and Dust Emissions from Supernova Remnants
• Massive stars as thermonuclear reactors and their explosions following core collapse
• The forward and reverse shock dynamics of Cassiopeia A
• Efficiencies of Magnetic-Field Amplification and Electron Acceleration in Young Supernova Remnants: Global Averages and Kepler's Supernova Remnant
• An Asymmetrical Model for High Energy Radiation of Cassiopeia A