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Composite image of Cassiopeia A type II supernova remnant obtained using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. | Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; AND: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Milisavljevic et al., NASA/JPL/CalTech; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt and K. Arcand
The study of the cosmic explosion that marked the violent death of a massive star has challenged our understanding of the relationship between ejected debris violently impacting the surrounding material and the energy of these events.
The supernova at the center of this study, named SN 2024bch, erupted about 65 million light-years from Earth and was first observed in 2024. in February This is an example Type II supernovaan explosion that occurs when nuclear fusion breaks down in the solid iron core of a massive star, causing it to disintegrate, sending shock waves into the star’s outer layers, causing them to erupt.
Scientists have always assumed that when this stellar ejection violently collides with the dense gas surrounding it dying starknown as the ring medium, produces the narrow emission lines in the light or spectra seen from type II supernovae. However, SN 2024bch appears to be “antisocial” because its ejected material does not seem to interact strongly with the surrounding envelope of gas. However, these narrow lines are still visible in its spectra.
The team behind this study, from the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), studied this supernova for 140 days using various ground-based telescopes and the Swift spacecraft, discovering narrow emission lines in its spectra. This feature was previously thought to be an attempt to determine whether a dying star is interacting with its environment.
However, in the case of SN 2024bch, the released energy does not appear to be the result of ejecta mixing with the dense envelope of gas. Instead, the INAF researchers propose a different energy-counting mechanism called Bowen fluorescence.
“We applied an unconventional and unprejudiced perspective,” Leonardo Tartaglia, team leader and INAF researcher, said in a translated statement.
Bowen fluorescence is similar to an echo, but high-energy light instead of sound. In this case, the supernova’s intense ultraviolet light excites the surrounding helium atoms, which transfer energy to other elements, such as oxygen and nitrogen, also around the dying star. It is this transfer of energy that creates the narrow spectral lines seen by the team.
The revelation means scientists may have to rethink models of type II supernovae that rule out some of these cosmic explosions as the source of neutrinos, virtually massless, bloodless “ghost particles” that stream through space at nearly the speed of light.
This could have implications for a powerful method of space exploration called multimesenger astronomy, which involves studying electromagnetic radiation events and objects along with gravitational waves or neutrinos.
“Our study highlights that, at least for a fraction of these transients, interactions are not the main driver of the emission, and this has important implications for the astronomy of several messengers,” said Tartaglia. “Showing no evidence of an interaction, supernova SN 2024bch lacks the physical conditions necessary to eject high-energy neutrinos.
The group’s study has been accepted for publication Astronomy and astrophysics.
The study of the cosmic explosion that marked the violent death of a massive star has challenged our understanding of the relationship between ejected debris violently impacting the surrounding material and the energy of these events.
The supernova at the center of this study, named SN 2024bch, erupted about 65 million light-years from Earth and was first observed in 2024. in February This is an example Type II supernovaan explosion that occurs when nuclear fusion breaks down in the solid iron core of a massive star, causing it to disintegrate, sending shock waves into the star’s outer layers, causing them to erupt.
Scientists have always assumed that when this stellar ejection violently collides with the dense gas surrounding it dying starknown as the ring medium, produces the narrow emission lines in the light or spectra seen from type II supernovae. However, SN 2024bch appears to be “antisocial” because its ejected material does not seem to interact strongly with the surrounding envelope of gas. However, these narrow lines are still visible in its spectra.
The team behind this study, from the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), studied this supernova for 140 days using various ground-based telescopes and the Swift spacecraft, discovering narrow emission lines in its spectra. This feature was previously thought to be an attempt to determine whether a dying star is interacting with its environment.
However, in the case of SN 2024bch, the released energy does not appear to be the result of ejecta mixing with the dense envelope of gas. Instead, the INAF researchers propose a different energy-counting mechanism called Bowen fluorescence.
“We applied an unconventional and unprejudiced perspective,” Leonardo Tartaglia, team leader and INAF researcher, said in a translated statement.
Bowen fluorescence is similar to an echo, but high-energy light instead of sound. In this case, the supernova’s intense ultraviolet light excites the surrounding helium atoms, which transfer energy to other elements, such as oxygen and nitrogen, also present around the dying star. It is this transfer of energy that creates the narrow spectral lines seen by the team.
The revelation means scientists may have to rethink models of Type II supernovae that rule out some of these cosmic explosions as the source of neutrinos, virtually massless, bloodless “ghost particles” that stream through space at nearly the speed of light.
This could have implications for a powerful method of space exploration called multimesenger astronomy, which involves studying electromagnetic radiation events and objects along with gravitational waves or neutrinos.
“Our study highlights that, at least for a fraction of these transients, interactions are not the main driver of the emission, and this has important implications for the astronomy of several messengers,” said Tartaglia. “Showing no evidence of an interaction, supernova SN 2024bch lacks the physical conditions necessary to eject high-energy neutrinos.
The group’s study has been accepted for publication Astronomy and astrophysics.