Abstract
Supernova (SN) explosions have been sought for decades as a possible source of dust in the Universe, providing the seeds of galaxies, stars, and planetary systems. SN 1987A offers one of the most promising examples of significant SN dust formation, but until the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), instruments have traditionally lacked the sensitivity at both late times (>1 yr post-explosion) and longer wavelengths (i.e. >10 μm) to detect analogous dust reservoirs. Here we present JWST/MIRI observations of two historic Type IIP SNe, 2004et and SN 2017eaw, at nearly 18 and 5 yr post-explosion, respectively. We fit the spectral energy distributions as functions of dust mass and temperature, from which we are able to constrain the dust geometry, origin, and heating mechanism. We place a 90 per cent confidence lower limit on the dust masses for SNe 2004et and 2017eaw of >0.014 and >4 × 10-4 M⊙, respectively. More dust may exist at even colder temperatures or may be obscured by high optical depths. We conclude dust formation in the ejecta to be the most plausible and consistent scenario. The observed dust is radiatively heated to ∼100-150 K by ongoing shock interaction with the circumstellar medium. Regardless of the best fit or heating mechanism adopted, the inferred dust mass for SN 2004et is the second highest (next to SN 1987A) mid-infrared inferred dust mass in extragalactic SNe thus far, promoting the prospect of SNe as potential significant sources of dust in the Universe.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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Tidsskrift | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Vol/bind | 523 |
Udgave nummer | 4 |
Sider (fra-til) | 6048-6060 |
Antal sider | 13 |
ISSN | 0035-8711 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - 12 maj 2023 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:This work is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5–03127 for JWST. These observations are associated with programme #2666. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the WM Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA; the observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the WM Keck Foundation. A major upgrade of the Kast spectrograph on the Shane 3-m telescope at Lick Observatory, led by Brad Holden, was made possible through generous gifts from the Heising–Simons Foundation, William and Marina Kast, and the University of California Observatories. Research at Lick Observatory is partially supported by a generous gift from Google. AVF’s supernova group at UC Berkeley is grateful for financial assistance from the Christopher R Redlich Fund and many individual donors. TS has been supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, as well as by the FK134432 grant of the National Research, Development and Innovation (NRDI) Office of Hungary and the ÚNKP 22–5 New National Excellence Programs of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the NRDI Fund, Hungary. The research of YY has been supported through a Bengier–Winslow–Robertson Fellowship.
Funding Information:
IRAF is written and supported by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.