44Ti radioactivity in young supernova remnants: Cas A and SN 1987A

Abstract

We investigate radioactivity from the decay sequence of 44Ti in young supernova remnants (SNRs), Cassiopeia A (Cas A) and SN 1987A. It is shown by a linear analysis that ionization of 44Ti, a pure electron capture decay isotope, affects the radioactivity contradistinctively in these two SNRs: Ionization of 44Ti to H-like and He-like states enhances its present radioactivity in Cas A, while such high-ionization decreases its radioactivity in SN 1987A. We briefly discuss the enhancement factor of the present radioactivity of Cas A considering microscopic (atomic/nuclear) physics combined with a hydrodynamical SNR evolution model. For SN 1987A, we have obtained the initial 44Ti mass of (0.82-2.3) X 10^{-4} M_solar from our Monte-Carlo simulations. The resulting fluxes of gamma and hard X-rays emerged from the 44Ti decay are given for the current and future experiments.

arXiv commentTalk at the workshop "Astronomy with Radioactivities IV", Seeon, Germany, June 2003; 8 pages, to appear in New Astronomy Reviews

References in corpus (7)

• Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars With Improved Nuclear and Stellar Physics
• X-ray spectral imaging and Doppler mapping of Cassiopeia A
• Detection of the 67.9 keV and 78.4 keV lines associated with the radioactive decay of Ti-44 in Cassiopeia A
• The X-ray Remnant of SN1987A
• The mass and energy budget of Cassiopeia A
• The X-ray Spectrum of Supernova Remnant 1987A
• Upper Limit to the Distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud

Cited by in corpus (8)

• The 511 keV emission from positron annihilation in the Galaxy
• The 44Ti-powered spectrum of SN 1987A
• Are Ti44-Producing Supernovae Exceptional?
• The light curve of SN 1987A revisited: constraining production masses of radioactive nuclides
• Astrophysical constraints from gamma-ray spectroscopy
• Thermal Emission and Radioactive Lines, but No Pulsar, in the Broadband X-Ray Spectrum of Supernova 1987A
• Gamma-ray Observations of Explosive Nucleosynthesis Products
• Constraints on the luminosity of the stellar remnant in SNR1987A