Issue |
A&A
Volume 450, Number 3, May II 2006
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 1037 - 1050 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20054626 | |
Published online | 19 April 2006 |
Are
Ti-producing supernovae exceptional?
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0978, USA e-mail: tlihsin@clemson.edu
2
Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1312, 85741 Garching, Germany
3
Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University, Vorob'evy Gory, 119992 Moscow, Russia
4
Cyclotron Center, RIKEN, Hirosawa 2-1, Wako 351-0198, Japan
Received:
1
December
2005
Accepted:
15
December
2005
According to standard models supernovae produce radioactive 44Ti,
which should be visible in gamma-rays following decay to 44Ca
for a few centuries.
44Ti production is believed to be the source of cosmic 44Ca, whose
abundance is well established.
Yet, gamma-ray telescopes have not seen the
expected young remnants of core collapse events. The 44Ti mean life of
τ 89 y and the Galactic supernova rate of
3/100 y imply
several detectable 44Ti gamma-ray sources, but only one is clearly
seen, the 340-year-old Cas A SNR.
Furthermore, supernovae which produce much 44Ti are expected to occur primarily
in the inner part of the Galaxy, where young massive stars are
most abundant. Because the Galaxy is transparent to gamma-rays, this
should be the dominant location of expected gamma-ray sources.
Yet the Cas A SNR as the only one source is located far from
the inner Galaxy (at longitude 112°).
We evaluate the surprising absence of detectable supernovae from
the past three centuries.
We discuss whether our understanding of SN explosions, their
44Ti yields, their spatial distributions, and statistical arguments
can be stretched so that this apparent disagreement may be accommodated within
reasonable expectations, or if we have to revise
some or all of the above aspects to bring expectations in agreement with the
observations.
We conclude that either core collapse supernovae have been improbably
rare in the Galaxy during the past few centuries, or 44Ti-producing supernovae
are atypical supernovae.
We also present a new argument based on 44Ca/40Ca ratios
in mainstream SiC stardust grains that may cast doubt on
massive-He-cap type I supernovae as the source of most galactic 44Ca.
Key words: ISM: abundances / Galaxy: abundances / gamma rays: observations / ISM: supernova remnants / supernovae: general / dust, extinction
© ESO, 2006
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