Detection of circumstellar material in a normal type Ia supernova

Type Ia supernovae are important cosmological distance indicators. Each of these bright supernovae supposedly results from the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf star that, after accreting material from a companion star, exceeds some mass limit, but the true nature of the progenitor star system remains controversial. Here we report the spectroscopic detection of circumstellar material in a normal type Ia supernova explosion. The expansion velocities, densities, and dimensions of the circumstellar envelope indicate that this material was ejected from the progenitor system. In particular, the relatively low expansion velocities suggest that the white dwarf was accreting material from a companion star that was in the red-giant phase at the time of the explosion.     

Circumstellar material in type Ia supernovae via sodium absorption features

Type Ia supernovae are key tools for measuring distances on a cosmic scale. They are generally thought to be the thermonuclear explosion of an accreting white dwarf in a close binary system. The nature of the mass donor is still uncertain. In the single-degenerate model it is a main-sequence star or an evolved star, whereas in the double-degenerate model it is another white dwarf. We show that the velocity structure of absorbing material along the line of sight to 35 type Ia supernovae tends to be blueshifted. These structures are likely signatures of gas outflows from the supernova progenitor systems. Thus, many type Ia supernovae in nearby spiral galaxies may originate in single-degenerate systems.     

Spectropolarimetric diagnostics of thermonuclear supernova explosions

Even at extragalactic distances, the shape of supernova ejecta can be effectively diagnosed by spectropolarimetry. We present results for 17 type Ia supernovae that allow a statistical study of the correlation among the geometric structures and other observable parameters of type Ia supernovae. These observations suggest that type Ia supernova ejecta typically consist of a smooth, central, iron-rich core and an outer layer with chemical asymmetries. The degree of this peripheral asphericity is correlated with the light-curve decline rate of type Ia supernovae. These results lend strong support to delayed-detonation models of type Ia supernovae.     

PTF 11kx: a type Ia supernova with a symbiotic nova progenitor

There is a consensus that type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) arise from the thermonuclear explosion of white dwarf stars that accrete matter from a binary companion. However, direct observation of SN Ia progenitors is lacking, and the precise nature of the binary companion remains uncertain. A temporal series of high-resolution optical spectra of the SN Ia PTF 11kx reveals a complex circumstellar environment that provides an unprecedentedly detailed view of the progenitor system. Multiple shells of circumstellar material are detected, and the SN ejecta are seen to interact with circumstellar material starting 59 days after the explosion. These features are best described by a symbiotic nova progenitor, similar to RS Ophiuchi.     

Asphericity in supernova explosions from late-time spectroscopy

Core-collapse supernovae (CC-SNe) are the explosions that announce the death of massive stars. Some CC-SNe are linked to long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and are highly aspherical. One important question is to what extent asphericity is common to all CC-SNe. Here we present late-time spectra for a number of CC-SNe from stripped-envelope stars and use them to explore any asphericity generated in the inner part of the exploding star, near the site of collapse. A range of oxygen emission-line profiles is observed, including a high incidence of double-peaked profiles, a distinct signature of an aspherical explosion. Our results suggest that all CC-SNe from stripped-envelope stars are aspherical explosions and that SNe accompanied by GRBs exhibit the highest degree of asphericity.     

An asymmetric energetic type Ic supernova viewed off-axis, and a link to gamma ray bursts

Type Ic supernovae, the explosions after the core collapse of massive stars that have previously lost their hydrogen and helium envelopes, are particularly interesting because of their link with long-duration gamma ray bursts. Although indications exist that these explosions are aspherical, direct evidence has been missing. Late-time observations of supernova SN 2003jd, a luminous type Ic supernova, provide such evidence. Recent Subaru and Keck spectra reveal double-peaked profiles in the nebular lines of neutral oxygen and magnesium. These profiles are different from those of known type Ic supernovae, with or without a gamma ray burst, and they can be understood if SN 2003jd was an aspherical axisymmetric explosion viewed from near the equatorial plane. If SN 2003jd was associated with a gamma ray burst, we missed the burst because it was pointing away from us.     

蒸汽爆破改性处理对麦秸板性能的影响

通过蒸汽爆破技术对麦秸原料进行处理,去除了麦秸表面的蜡质和硅等胶合阻碍成分,解决了农作物秸秆共有的胶合难的问题.研究结果表明,蒸汽爆破处理对于麦秸板的内结合强度、静曲强度、弹性模量和吸水厚度膨胀率都有显著改善.用在190℃、3 min蒸汽爆破条件下处理的麦秸制成的板材,其内结合强度约是未处理板材的10倍.在190℃、2...     

Herschel detects a massive dust reservoir in supernova 1987A

We report far-infrared and submillimeter observations of supernova 1987A, the star whose explosion was observed on 23 February 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy located 160,000 light years away. The observations reveal the presence of a population of cold dust grains radiating with a temperature of about 17 to 23 kelvin at a rate of about 220 times the luminosity of the Sun. The intensity and spectral energy distribution of the emission suggest a dust mass of about 0.4 to 0.7 times the mass of the Sun. The radiation must originate from the supernova ejecta and requires the efficient precipitation of all refractory material into dust. Our observations imply that supernovae can produce the large dust masses detected in young galaxies at very high redshifts.     

Detection of a red supergiant progenitor star of a type II-plateau supernova

We present the discovery of a red supergiant star that exploded as supernova 2003gd in the nearby spiral galaxy M74. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Gemini Telescope imaged this galaxy 6 to 9 months before the supernova explosion, and subsequent HST images confirm the positional coincidence of the supernova with a single resolved star that is a red supergiant of 8(+4)(-2) solar masses. This confirms both stellar evolution models and supernova theories predicting that cool red supergiants are the immediate progenitor stars of type II-plateau supernovae.     

Graphite whiskers in CV3 meteorites

Graphite whiskers (GWs), an allotrope of carbon that has been proposed to occur in space, have been discovered in three CV-type carbonaceous chondrites via Raman imaging and electron microscopy. The GWs are associated with high-temperature calcium-aluminum inclusion (CAI) rims and interiors, with the rim of a dark inclusion, and within an inclusion inside an unusual chondrule that bears mineralogy and texture indicative of high-temperature processing. Current understanding of CAI formation places their condensation, and that of associated GWs, relatively close to the Sun and early in the condensation sequence of protoplanetary disk materials. If this is the case, then it is a possibility that GWs are expelled from any young solar system early in its history, thus populating interstellar space with diffuse GWs. Graphite whiskers have been postulated to play a role in the near-infrared (near-IR) dimming of type Ia supernovae, as well as in the thermalization of both the cosmic IR and microwave background and in galactic center dimming between 3 and 9 micrometers. Our observations, along with the further possibility that GWs could be manufactured during supernovae, suggest that GWs may have substantial effects in observational astronomy.     

Thermonuclear supernovae: simulations of the deflagration stage and their implications

Large-scale, three-dimensional numerical simulations of the deflagration stage of a thermonuclear supernova explosion show the formation and evolution of a highly convoluted turbulent flame in the gravitational field of an expanding carbon-oxygen white dwarf. The flame dynamics are dominated by the gravity-induced Rayleigh-Taylor instability that controls the burning rate. The thermonuclear deflagration releases enough energy to produce a healthy explosion. The turbulent flame, however, leaves large amounts of unburned and partially burned material near the star center, whereas observations that imply these materials are present only in outer layers. This disagreement could be resolved if the deflagration triggers a detonation.     

Radio studies of extragalactic supernovae

Some exploding stars (supernovae) are powerful emitters of centimeter radio radiation. Detailed observations have shown that these supernovae quickly become detectable in the radio range, first at shorter wavelengths (higher frequencies) and later at progressively longer and longer wavelengths (lower frequencies). This part of the phenomenon appears to be well explained by a monotonic decrease in the amount of ionized material surrounding the radio-emitting regions as the shock from the explosion travels outward. The radio emission itself is of a nonthermal, synchrotron origin, as is the case in most bright cosmic radio sources. Once the absorption effects become negligible, the radio intensity declines with time until reaching the detection limit of the telescope. Models suggest that the absorbing material originates in a dense wind of matter lost by the supernova progenitor star, or by its companion if it is in a binary system, in the last stages of evolution before the explosion. The synchrotron radio emission can be generated either externally by the shock wave from the explosion propagating through this same high density stellar wind or internally by a rapidly rotating neutron star, which is the collapsed core of the exploded star. Present results appear to favor the former model for at least the first several years after the supernova explosion, although the latter model remains viable.     

Measuring spacetime: from the big bang to black holes

Space is not a boring static stage on which events unfold over time, but a dynamic entity with curvature, fluctuations, and a rich life of its own. Spectacular measurements of the cosmic microwave background, gravitational lensing, type Ia supernovae, large-scale structure, spectra of the Lyman alpha forest, stellar dynamics, and x-ray binaries are probing the properties of spacetime over 22 orders of magnitude in scale. Current measurements are consistent with an infinite flat everlasting universe containing about 30% cold dark matter, 65% dark energy, and at least two distinct populations of black holes.     

Protostellar feedback halts the growth of the first stars in the universe

The first stars fundamentally transformed the early universe by emitting the first light and by producing the first heavy elements. These effects were predetermined by the mass distribution of the first stars, which is thought to have been fixed by a complex interplay of gas accretion and protostellar radiation. We performed radiation-hydrodynamics simulations that followed the growth of a primordial protostar through to the early stages as a star with thermonuclear burning. The circumstellar accretion disk was evaporated by ultraviolet radiation from the star when its mass was 43 times that of the Sun. Such massive primordial stars, in contrast to the often-postulated extremely massive stars, may help explain the fact that there are no signatures of the pair-instability supernovae in abundance patterns of metal-poor stars in our galaxy.     

The metamorphosis of supernova SN 2008D/XRF 080109: a link between supernovae and GRBs/hypernovae

The only supernovae (SNe) to show gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) or early x-ray emission thus far are overenergetic, broad-lined type Ic SNe (hypernovae, HNe). Recently, SN 2008D has shown several unusual features: (i) weak x-ray flash (XRF), (ii) an early, narrow optical peak, (iii) disappearance of the broad lines typical of SN Ic HNe, and (iv) development of helium lines as in SNe Ib. Detailed analysis shows that SN 2008D was not a normal supernova: Its explosion energy (E approximately 6x10(51) erg) and ejected mass [ approximately 7 times the mass of the Sun (M(middle dot in circle))] are intermediate between normal SNe Ibc and HNe. We conclude that SN 2008D was originally a approximately 30 M(middle dot in circle) star. When it collapsed, a black hole formed and a weak, mildly relativistic jet was produced, which caused the XRF. SN 2008D is probably among the weakest explosions that produce relativistic jets. Inner engine activity appears to be present whenever massive stars collapse to black holes.     

秸秆成型燃料燃烧速度影响因素的研究

对影响秸秆成型燃料燃烧速度的因素进行了试验研究.结果表明,秸秆成型燃料燃烧初期的速度受温度的影响较大,温度越高,挥发分析出速度越快,燃烧平稳性越差;通风量增大导致炉膛内的温度降低,从而使挥发分析出速度相对平稳;成型密度的增大,一定程度上抑制了成型燃料挥发分的析出速度.而成型直径和成型质量的增加,使得燃烧初期的平均燃烧速度增大,即燃烧初期析出的挥发分增多;而在中后期挥发分的析出速度相对稳定.     

Supernova shock breakout from a red supergiant

Massive stars undergo a violent death when the supply of nuclear fuel in their cores is exhausted, resulting in a catastrophic "core-collapse" supernova. Such events are usually only detected at least a few days after the star has exploded. Observations of the supernova SNLS-04D2dc with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer space telescope reveal a radiative precursor from the supernova shock before the shock reached the surface of the star and show the initial expansion of the star at the beginning of the explosion. Theoretical models of the ultraviolet light curve confirm that the progenitor was a red supergiant, as expected for this type of supernova. These observations provide a way to probe the physics of core-collapse supernovae and the internal structures of their progenitor stars.     

Silicate spherules from tunguska impact area: electron microprobe analysis

The major oxide composition of four silicate spherules from the area of forest devastated by the explosion of the Tunguska meteorite has been determined by electron microprobe analysis. In general, the spherules have compositions similar to that of igneous glass except for the low iron and the high calcium oxide content of the three spherules that have a low content of silicon dioxide. None of the spherules seem to have compositions similar to the silicate portiof any major meteorite group.     

The changing morphology and increasing deceleration of supernova 1993J in M81

Twenty consecutive Very Long Baseline Interferometry images of supernova 1993J from the time of explosion to the present show the dynamic evolution of the expanding radio shell of an exploded star. High-precision astrometry reveals that the supernova expands isotropically from its explosion center. Systematic changes in the images may reflect a pattern of anisotropies and inhomogeneities in the material left over from the progenitor star. As the shock front sweeps up the material in the surrounding medium, it is increasingly decelerated and influenced by the material. After 5 years, the supernova has slowed to half of its original expansion velocity and may have entered the early stages of the adiabatic phase common in much older supernova remnants in the Milky Way Galaxy.     

液化石油气火灾爆炸事故类型分析

对液化石油气储运过程中的各种爆炸类型及成因进行了探讨，运用事故树方法分析了引起火灾爆炸的概率和原因。指出在液化石油气爆炸事故类型中，泄漏型火灾爆炸发生的概率最大，也最危险。提出了液化石油气火灾爆炸事故的预防措施。