Explaining the morphology of supernova remnant (SNR) 1987A with the jittering jets explosion mechanism

Abstract

We find that the remnant of supernova (SN) 1987A shares some morphological features with four supernova remnants (SNRs) that have signatures of shaping by jets, and from that we strengthen the claim that jets played a crucial role in the explosion of SN 1987A. Some of the morphological features appear also in planetary nebulae (PNe) where jets are observed. The clumpy ejecta bring us to support the claim that the jittering jets explosion mechanism can account for the structure of the remnant of SN 1987A, i.e., SNR 1987A. We conduct a preliminary attempt to quantify the fluctuations in the angular momentum of the mass that is accreted on to the newly born neutron star via an accretion disk or belt. The accretion disk/belt launches the jets that explode core collapse supernovae (CCSNe). The relaxation time of the accretion disk/belt is comparable to the duration of a typical jet-launching episode in the jittering jets explosion mechanism, and hence the disk/belt has no time to relax. We suggest that this might explain two unequal opposite jets that later lead to unequal sides of the elongated structures in some SNRs of CCSNe. We reiterate our earlier call for a paradigm shift from neutrino-driven explosion to a jet-driven explosion of CCSNe.

Supernova Fallback as Origin of Neutron Star Spins and Spin-kick Alignment

“…This value is far sufficient to explain the energy that has been estimated for jet-like structures seen in nearby supernova remnants, for example the high-velocity, wide-angle NE and SW features seen in Cassiopeia A (e.g., Fesen & Milisavljevic 2016), the faint protrusion or "chimney" that extends out from the northern rim of the visible Crab Nebula (which is often called northern ejecta "jet"; e.g. Gull & Fesen 1982;Blandford et al 1983;Davidson & Fesen 1985;Fesen & Staker 1993;Black & Fesen 2015), and, if these structures are indeed connected to flows originating from the explosion center, also some ear-like extensions that have been interpreted into images of various supernova remnants (Bear et al 2017;Bear & Soker 2018a;perhaps even in SN 1987A, Soker 2021. All of these features might possibly be relics of collimated post-explosion outflows linked to the formation of fallback disks around the new-born neutron stars.…”

“…of super-luminous events in the case of significant accretion power (Dexter & Kasen 2013). Morever, a number of pulsars and magnetars have been announced to possess planets or circumstellar disks, and "ears" and asymmetric structures in a larger sample of supernova remnants including SN 1987A have been interpreted as relics of jet-like outflows (Bear et al 2017;Bear & Soker 2018a).…”

Imprints of the jittering jets explosion mechanism in the morphology of the supernova remnant SNR 0540-69.3

“…Larsson et al (2021) mention that the [O III] irregular ring-like structure of SNR 0540-69.3 might be similar to the CO torus expanding with a velocity of 1700 km s −1 that ALMA observations reveal in SNR 1987A (Abellán et al 2017). Bear & Soker (2018b) attributed the shaping of the CO torus in SNR 1987A to jittering jets. I therefore propose here the possibility that the [O III] irregular ring-like structure of SNR 0540-69.3 was compressed by two opposite jets with a jets' axis perpendicular to the plane of the [O III] irregular ring-like structure.…”

“…Soker (2017) compared the Fe structure of SN 1987A from Larsson et al (2016) with the numerical simulations by Wongwathanarat et al (2015) and concluded that the neutrino-driven explosion mechanism cannot account for the properties of SN 1987A. Bear & Soker (2018b) use the observations of Abellán et al (2017) to compare some morphological features of SN 1987A with morphological features of other SNRs and with plane-tary nebulae, and further argue that jittering jets played a crucial role in the explosion of SN 1987A. I note that the earlier claim of Wang et al (2002) that two opposite non-jittering jets exploded SN 1987a is in conflict with the structure of the ejecta that Abellán et al (2017) reveal (see discussion by Bear & Soker 2018b).…”

“…Bear & Soker (2018b) use the observations of Abellán et al (2017) to compare some morphological features of SN 1987A with morphological features of other SNRs and with plane-tary nebulae, and further argue that jittering jets played a crucial role in the explosion of SN 1987A. I note that the earlier claim of Wang et al (2002) that two opposite non-jittering jets exploded SN 1987a is in conflict with the structure of the ejecta that Abellán et al (2017) reveal (see discussion by Bear & Soker 2018b). Wongwathanarat et al (2015) and Orlando et al (2021) compared numerical simulations of the neutrinodriven explosion mechanism with the structure of SNR Cassiopeia A and argued that these simulations reproduce the morphological distribution of some metals in SNR Cassiopeia A.…”