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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Astrophysics and Astronomy

University of Kentucky

2013

Supernovae

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Detecting The Rapidly Expanding Outer Shell Of The Crab Nebula: Where To Look, Xiang Wang, Gary J. Ferland, J. A. Baldwin, E. D. Loh, C. T. Richardson Sep 2013

Detecting The Rapidly Expanding Outer Shell Of The Crab Nebula: Where To Look, Xiang Wang, Gary J. Ferland, J. A. Baldwin, E. D. Loh, C. T. Richardson

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a range of steady-state photoionization simulations, corresponding to different assumed shell geometries and compositions, of the unseen postulated rapidly expanding outer shell to the Crab Nebula. The properties of the shell are constrained by the mass that must lie within it, and by limits to the intensities of hydrogen recombination lines. In all cases the photoionization models predict very strong emissions from high ionization lines that will not be emitted by the Crab's filaments, alleviating problems with detecting these lines in the presence of light scattered from brighter parts of the Crab. The near-NIR [Ne VI] λ7.652 μ …


The Nature Of The H2-Emitting Gas In The Crab Nebula, C. T. Richardson, J. A. Baldwin, Gary J. Ferland, E. D. Loh, C. A. Kuehn, A. C. Fabian, Philippe Salomé Apr 2013

The Nature Of The H2-Emitting Gas In The Crab Nebula, C. T. Richardson, J. A. Baldwin, Gary J. Ferland, E. D. Loh, C. A. Kuehn, A. C. Fabian, Philippe Salomé

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Understanding how molecules and dust might have formed within a rapidly expanding young supernova remnant is important because of the obvious application to vigorous supernova activity at very high redshift. In previous papers, we have mapped the Crab nebula (the Crab) in a rotovibrational H2emission line, and then measured the molecular excitation temperature for a few of the brighter H2-emitting knots that we have found to be scattered throughout the Crab's filaments. We found that H2 emission is often quite strong, correlates with optical low-ionization emission lines and has a surprisingly high excitation temperature. Here, …