A 3-dimensional analysis of the Cassiopeia a supernova remnant.

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. October 2011. Major: Astrophysics. Advisor: Lawrence Rudnick. 1 computer file (PDF); xi, 114 pages.We present a multi-wavelength study of the nearby supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A). Easily resolvable supernova remnants such as Cas A provide a unique opportunity to test supernova explosion models. Additionally, we can observe key processes in the interstellar medium as the ejecta from the initial explosion encounter Cas A’s powerful shocks. In order to accomplish these science goals, we used the Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Spectrograph to create a high resolution spectral map of select regions of Cas A, allowing us to make a Doppler reconstruction of its 3-dimensional structure structure. In the center of the remnant, we find relatively pristine ejecta that have not yet reached Cas A’s reverse shock or interacted with the circumstellar environment. We observe O, Si, and S emission. These ejecta can form both sheet-like structures as well as filaments. Si and O, which come from different nucleosynthetic layers of the star, are observed to be coincident in some regions, and separated by >500 km s−1 in others. Observed ejecta traveling toward us are, on average, #24;800 km s−1 slower than the material traveling away from us. We compare our observations to recent supernova explosion models and find that no single model can simultaneously reproduce all the observed features. However, models of different supernova explosions can collectively produce the observed geometries and structures of the emission interior to Cas A’s reverse shock. We use the results from the models to address the conditions during the supernova explosion, concentrating on asymmetries in the shock structure. We also predict that the back surface of Cassiopeia A will begin brightening in #24;30 years, and the front surface in #24;100 years. We then used similar observations from 3 regions on Cas A’s reverse shock in order to create more 3-dimensional maps. In these regions, we observe supernova ejecta both immediately before and during the shock-ejecta interaction. We determine that the reverse shock of the remnant is spherical to within 7%, although the center of this sphere is offset from the geometric center of the remnant by 810 km s−1. We determine that the velocity width of the nucleosynthetic layers is #24;1000 km s−1 in a given region, although the velocity width of a layer along any given line of sight is