Prof Patrick Roche

Abstract:

We present a polarisation map of the warm dust emission from the minispiral in the central parsec of the Galactic centre. The observations were made at a wavelength of 12.5 μm with CanariCam mounted on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias. The magnetic field traced by the polarised emission from aligned dust grains is consistent with previous observations, but the increased resolution of the present data reveals considerably more information on the detailed structure of the B field and its correspondence with the filamentary emission seen in both mid-infrared continuum emission and free-free emission at cm wavelengths. The magnetic field appears to be compressed and pushed by the outflows from luminous stars in the Northern Arm, but it is not disordered by them. We identify some magnetically coherent filaments that cross the Northern Arm at a Position Angle of ∼45o, and which may trace orbits inclined to the primary orientation of the Northern Arm and circumnuclear disk. In the East-West bar, the magnetic fields implied by the polarization in the lower intensity regions lie predominantly along the bar at a Position Angle of 130 − 140o. In contrast to the Northern Arm, the brighter regions of the bar tend to have lower degrees of polarization with a greater divergence in position angle compared to the local diffuse emission. It appears that the diffuse emission in the East-West bar traces the underlying field and that the bright compact sources are unrelated objects presumably projected onto the bar and with different field orientations.

Abstract:

Supernova (SN) 1987A has provided a unique opportunity to study how SN ejecta evolve in 30 years time scale. We report our ALMA spectral observations of SN 1987A, taken in 2014, 2015 and 2016, with detections of CO, 28SiO, HCO+ and SO, with weaker lines of 29SiO. We find a dip in the SiO line profiles, suggesting that the ejecta morphology is likely elongated. The difference of the CO and SiO line profiles is consistent with hydrodynamic simulations, which show that Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities causes mixing of gas, with heavier elements much more disturbed, making more elongated structure. Using 28SiO and its isotopologues, Si isotope ratios were estimated for the first time in SN 1987A. The estimated ratios appear to be consistent with theoretical predictions of inefficient formation of neutron rich atoms at lower metallicity, such as observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud (about half a solar metallicity). The deduced large HCO+ mass and small SiS mass, which are inconsistent to the predictions of chemical model, might be explained by some mixing of elements immediately after the explosion. The mixing might have made some hydrogen from the envelope to sink into carbon and oxygen-rich zone during early days after the explosion, enabling the formation of a substantial mass of HCO+. Oxygen atoms may penetrate into silicon and sulphur zone, suppressing formation of SiS. Our ALMA observations open up a new window to investigate chemistry, dynamics and explosive-nucleosynthesis in supernovae.

Abstract:

Most massive stars end their lives in core-collapse supernova explosions and enrich the interstellar medium with explosively nucleosynthesized elements. Following core collapse, the explosion is subject to instabilities as the shock propagates outward through the progenitor star. Observations of the composition and structure of the innermost regions of a core-collapse supernova provide a direct probe of the instabilities and nucleosynthetic products. SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud is one of very few supernovae for which the inner ejecta can be spatially resolved but are not yet strongly affected by interaction with the surroundings. Our observations of SN 1987A with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array are of the highest resolution to date and reveal the detailed morphology of cold molecular gas in the innermost regions of the remnant. The 3D distributions of carbon and silicon monoxide (CO and SiO) emission differ, but both have a central deficit, or torus-like distribution, possibly a result of radioactive heating during the first weeks ("nickel heating"). The size scales of the clumpy distribution are compared quantitatively to models, demonstrating how progenitor and explosion physics can be constrained.

Abstract:

We present new calculations of the CAT3D clumpy torus models, which now include a more physical dust sublimation model as well as AGN anisotropic emission. These new models allow graphite grains to persist at temperatures higher than the silicate dust sublimation temperature. This produces stronger near-infrared emission and bluer mid-infrared (MIR) spectral slopes. We make a statistical comparison of the CAT3D model MIR predictions with a compilation of sub-arcsecond resolution ground-based MIR spectroscopy of 52 nearby Seyfert galaxies (median distance of 36 Mpc) and 10 quasars. We focus on the AGN MIR spectral index αMIR and the strength of the 9.7 μm silicate feature SSil. As with other clumpy torus models, the new CAT3D models do not reproduce the Seyfert galaxies with deep silicate absorption (SSil < −1). Excluding those, we conclude that the new CAT3D models are in better agreement with the observed αMIR and SSil of Seyfert galaxies and quasars. We find that Seyfert 2 are reproduced with models with low photon escape probabilities, while the quasars and the Seyfert 1-1.5 require generally models with higher photon escape probabilities. Quasars and Seyfert 1-1.5 tend to show steeper radial cloud distributions and fewer clouds along an equatorial line-of-sight than Seyfert 2. Introducing AGN anisotropic emission besides the more physical dust sublimation models alleviates the problem of requiring inverted radial cloud distributions (i.e., more clouds towards the outer parts of the torus) to explain the MIR spectral indices of type 2 Seyferts.

Abstract:

We report the first molecular line survey of Supernova 1987A in the millimetre wavelength range. In the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 210–300 and 340–360 GHz spectra, we detected cold (20–170 K) CO, ²⁸SiO, HCO⁺ and SO, with weaker lines of ²⁹SiO from ejecta. This is the first identification of HCO⁺ and SO in a young supernova remnant. We find a dip in the J = 6–5 and 5–4 SiO line profiles, suggesting that the ejecta morphology is likely elongated. The difference of the CO and SiO line profiles is consistent with hydrodynamic simulations, which show that Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities cause mixing of gas, with heavier elements much more disturbed, making more elongated structure. We obtained isotopologue ratios of ²⁸SiO/²⁹SiO > 13, ²⁸SiO/³⁰SiO > 14 and ¹²CO/¹³CO > 21, with the most likely limits of ²⁸SiO/²⁹SiO >128, ²⁸SiO/³⁰SiO >189. Low ²⁹Si and ³⁰Si abundances in SN 1987A are consistent with nucleosynthesis models that show inefficient formation of neutron-rich isotopes in a low-metallicity environment, such as the Large Magellanic Cloud. The deduced large mass of HCO⁺ (∼5 × 10⁻⁶ M_⊙) and small SiS mass (<6 × 10⁻⁵ M_⊙) might be explained by some mixing of elements immediately after the explosion. The mixing might have caused some hydrogen from the envelope to sink into carbon- and oxygen-rich zones after the explosion, enabling the formation of a substantial mass of HCO⁺. Oxygen atoms may have penetrated into silicon and sulphur zones, suppressing formation of SiS. Our ALMA observations open up a new window to investigate chemistry, dynamics and explosive nucleosynthesis in supernovae.