New Observational Insight on Shock Interactions Toward Supernovae and Supernova Remnants Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Kilpatrick, Charles Donald Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 23:53:10 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621574 NEW OBSERVATIONAL INSIGHT ON SHOCK INTERACTIONS TOWARD SUPERNOVAE AND SUPERNOVA REMNANTS by Charles Donald Kilpatrick Copyright c Charles Donald Kilpatrick 2016 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2016 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Charles Donald Kilpatrick entitled New Observational Insight on Shock Inter- actions Toward Supernovae and Supernova Remnants and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date: 14 June 2016 George Rieke Date: 14 June 2016 David Arnett Date: 14 June 2016 John Bieging Date: 14 June 2016 Peter Milne Date: 14 June 2016 Nathan Smith Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s sub- mission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recom- mend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Date: 14 June 2016 Dissertation Director: George Rieke 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgment of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Charles Donald Kilpatrick 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the many mentors and collaborators who have facilitated my devel- opment as a scientist. Foremost, my advisor George Rieke has constantly supported me in all my research interests. Every one of the opportunities I have had to explore infrared, optical, millimeter, and radio astronomy, to conduct research on supernova remnants, su- pernovae, and transients, and to start and complete all of the projects in this dissertation are owed to George. John Bieging taught me millimeter observing and had the patience to help me become a better writer. Nathan Smith guided me toward a much deeper under- standing of supernovae and gave me several opportunities to conduct my own research as an observer. Thanks to the staff scientists and colleagues who have shown a willingness and ex- citement to support my research. I would like to acknowledge the staff at the Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope, the Bok Telescope, and the Kuiper Telescope, especially Joe Hoscheidt whose hard work and dedication to maintaining Arizona telescopes extends to winding mountain drives in the dead of night. Don McCarthy and Craig Kulesa de- voted considerable time to setting up PISCES infrared camera on the Bok 90” Telescope, guiding my data reduction efforts, and reading my manuscripts for publication. Members of the Arizona Transient Exploration and Characterization collaboration, especially Pe- ter Milne, Wen-fai Fong, and Jen Andrews, have contributed countless hours to this work through informal chats, brainstorming new ideas, and help in data reduction. Dave Arnett has had an enormous influence on my research and I am grateful for his encouragement and willingness to challenge my ideas about Cassiopeia A. I would like to express my gratitude to the many scientists whose data I solicited in writing this dissertation, including Crystal Brogan for providing her 90 cm data of Galactic supernova remnants, David Moffett for providing 20 cm radio continuum data of 3C 391, Jeonghee Rho and Kristoffer Eriksen for providing Ks band imaging of Cassiopeia A, and Alex Filippenko and the Berkeley transient group for providing optical spectroscopy of PS15si. I would also like to thank Felix Aharonian and Joachim Hahn for their helpful comments on gamma-ray emission from supernova remnants. Some of the observations reported in this dissertation were obtained using the Bart J. Bok 90” Telescope operated by Steward Observatory, the MMT Observatory operated jointly by the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution, and the W. M. Keck Observatory operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technol- ogy, the University of California, and NASA. The Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope is operated by the Arizona Radio Observatory with partial support from National Science Foundation grant AST 1140030. The research in this dissertation was supported by NASA through Contract Number 1255094 issued by JPL/Caltech. 5 DEDICATION To Dad and Zack: for providing the examples to which I aspire as a scientist. To Mom: for being the first person to take me to the library, the museum, and school. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES . .9 LIST OF TABLES . 11 ABSTRACT . 12 CHAPTER 1 Introduction . 14 1.1 The Physics of Supernova Shocks . 15 1.2 Dynamical Evolution of Supernova Shocks . 17 1.2.1 Free-Expansion Phase . 17 1.2.2 Snowplow Phase . 19 1.3 Electromagnetic Signatures of Shocks From Supernovae and Supernova Remnants . 21 1.3.1 Supernovae with Circumstellar Interactions . 21 1.3.2 Nonthermal Emission from Young Supernova Remnants . 22 1.3.3 Interactions Between Supernova Remnants and Molecular Clouds 24 1.4 This Volume . 26 CHAPTER 2 PS15si: A Type Ia/IIn Supernova with Late-time Rebrightening . 27 2.1 Introduction . 27 2.2 Observations . 30 2.3 Results . 34 2.3.1 Photometry . 34 2.3.2 Spectroscopy . 36 2.4 Discussion . 44 2.4.1 PS15si Explosion Date and Maximum R band Magnitude . 44 2.4.2 Luminosity of the CSM and Underlying SN . 47 2.4.3 Late-Time Rebrightening and Spectral Fitting of SNe Ia/IIn . 49 2.5 Conclusion . 50 CHAPTER 3 Variability in the Near-Infrared Synchrotron Emission From Cas- siopeia A . 52 3.1 Introduction . 52 3.2 Observations . 54 3.3 Results and Analysis . 55 3.3.1 Fast-Moving Features . 55 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS – Continued 3.3.2 Are the Ks Band Knots Dominated by Synchrotron Emission? . 57 3.3.3 IRAC Measurements . 59 3.3.4 Physical Parameters of Synchrotron-Emitting Knots . 62 3.4 Discussion . 64 3.5 Conclusions . 65 CHAPTER 4 Interaction Between Cassiopeia A and Nearby Molecular Clouds . 66 4.1 Introduction . 66 4.2 Observations . 68 4.3 CO Line Emission Around Cas A . 71 4.3.1 Kinematics of CO Line Emission as Observed in J = 2 − 1 Spectra 71 4.3.2 Possible Cloud/SNR Interactions . 74 4.3.3 CO Line Broadening . 74 4.4 Analysis of Cas A Infrared Spectroscopy . 79 4.4.1 Spectral Features . 79 4.4.2 [O IV] 25.94 µm line . 82 4.4.3 Analysis of Low-Resolution [O IV] Emission . 87 4.5 Discussion . 91 4.5.1 Possible Mechanisms for CO Line Broadening in Regions Beyond the Cas A Shock Front . 92 4.5.2 Broadening by Stellar Winds . 92 4.5.3 Broadening by Interaction with Outflows of Fast-Moving Knots . 93 4.5.4 Turbulence in Mid-Infrared Line Emission . 94 4.5.5 Comparison to Other Studies of SNR/MC Interactions . 97 4.6 Conclusion . 99 CHAPTER 5 A Systematic Survey for Broadened CO Lines Toward Galactic Super- nova Remnants . 101 5.1 Introduction . 101 5.2 Source Selection and Distances . 103 5.2.1 Distances . 106 5.3 Observations . 107 5.4 Algorithm for Selecting BML Regions from Observations . 109 5.4.1 Data . 109 5.4.2 Summary of BML Region Algorithm . 109 5.4.3 Criteria for Possible Interactions . 111 5.4.4 BML Region Identification . 113 5.4.5 BML Region Examples: 3C 391 and Cas A . 115 5.4.6 Comparison to Other BML Region Indicators . 118 5.5 Results . 120 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS – Continued 5.5.1 SNRs with Previous Detections Supporting SNR-MC Interactions 121 5.5.2 Non-Detection Toward G54.1+0.3 . 126 5.5.3 Newly Identified SNR-MC Systems . 127 5.6 Discussion . 141 5.6.1 The SNR-MC Interaction Rate . 141 5.6.2 To What Extent Are SNR-MC Interactions Detectable in 12CO J = 2 − 1?............................. 142 5.6.3 Suppressing the SNR-MC Interaction Rate . 145 5.6.4 Astrophysical Implications of a Low SNR-MC Interaction Rate . 146 5.6.5 Gamma-Ray Emission from SNR-MC Interactions . 147 5.7 Conclusion . 151 CHAPTER 6 Conclusion . 154 6.1 Results . 154 6.2 Future Direction . 156 6.2.1 Late-time Radio Emission from Supernovae . 156 6.2.2 Measuring the Physical Properties of Molecular Clouds Shocked by Supernova Remnants . 159 APPENDIX A Mid-Infrared Fine Structure Lines . 162 A.1 [S III] 18.71 µm line . 162 A.2 [S IV] 10.51 µm line . 162 A.3 [Ne II] 12.81 µm line .