Late-time X-ray, UV, and optical monitoring of supernova 1979C

Immler, S., Fesen, R. A., Van Dyk, S. D., Weiler, K. W., Petre, R., Lewin, W. H. G., Pooley, D., Pietsch, W., Aschenbach, B., Hammell, M. C., Rudie, G. C. (October 2005) Late-time X-ray, UV, and optical monitoring of supernova 1979C. Astrophysical Journal, 632 (1). pp. 283-293. ISSN 0004-637X

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URL: http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/632/1/283/
DOI: 10.1086/432869

Abstract

We present results from observations of supernova (SN) 1979C with the Newton X-Ray Multi-Mirror (XMM-Newton) mission in X-rays and in UV, archival X-ray, and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, and follow-up ground-based optical imaging. The XMM-Newton MOS spectrum shows the best-fit two-temperature thermal plasma emission characteristics of both the forward (kT(high) = 4:1(-2.4)(+76) keV) and reverse shock (kT(low) = 0.79(-0.17)(+0.24) keV) with no intrinsic absorption. The long-term X-ray light curve, constructed from all X-ray data available, reveals that SN 1979C is still radiating at a flux level similar to that detected by ROSAT in 1995, showing no sign of a decline over the last 6 years, some 16-23 yr after its outburst. The high inferred X-ray luminosity (L(0.3-2) = 8 x 10(38) ergs s(-1)) is caused by the interaction of the SN shock with dense circumstellar matter, likely deposited by a strong stellar wind from the progenitor with a high mass- loss rate of. M approximate to 1.5 x 10(-4) M(circle dot) yr(-1) (v(w)/10 km s(-1)). The X-ray data support a strongly decelerated shock and show a mass-loss rate history that is consistent with a constant progenitor mass-loss rate and wind velocity over the past greater than or similar to 16,000 yr in the stellar evolution of the progenitor. We find a best-fit circumstellar medium (CSM) density profile of rho(CSM) proportional to r(-s) with index s less than or similar to 1.7 and high CSM densities (greater than or similar to 10(4) cm(-3)) out to large radii from the site of the explosion (r greater than or similar to 4 x 10(17) cm). Using XMM-Newton Optical Monitor data, we further detect a pointlike optical/UV source consistent with the position of SN 1979C, with B-, U-, and UVW1-band luminosities of 5, 7, and 9 x 10(36) ergs s(-1), respectively. The young stellar cluster in the vicinity of the SN, as imaged by the HSTand follow- up ground- based optical imaging, can only provide a fraction of the total observed flux, so that a significant contribution to the output likely arises from the strong interaction of SN 1979C with dense CSM.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: circumstellar matter galaxies : individual (M100, NGC 4321) supernovae : individual (SN 1979C) ultraviolet : ISM X-rays : general X-rays : individual (M100, NGC 4321, SN1979C) X-rays : ISM PRESUPERNOVA MASS-LOSS SN 1979C CIRCUMSTELLAR INTERACTION RADIO OBSERVATIONS II SUPERNOVAE GALAXY M100 EMISSION CHANDRA SN1979C PROGENITOR Astronomy & Astrophysics
Subjects: physics
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Hammell M. lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: October 2005
Date Deposited: 06 Nov 2014 16:51
Last Modified: 06 Nov 2014 16:51
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/30889

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