Can Light Echoes Account for the Slow Decay of Type IIn Supernovae?

The spectra of type IIn supernovae indicate the presence of apre-existing slow, dense circumstellar wind (CSW). If the CSW extends sufficiently far from the progenitor star, then dust formation should occur in the wind. The light from the supernova explosion will scatter off this dust and produce a light echo. Continuum emission seen after the peak will have contributions from both this echo as well as from the shock of the ejecta colliding with the CSW, with a fundamental question of which source dominates the continuum. We calculate the brightness of the light echo as a function of time for a range of dust shell geometries, and use our calculations to fit to the light curves of SN 1988Z and SN 1997ab, the two slowest declining IIn supernovae on record. We find that the light curves of both objects can be reproduced by the echo model. However, their rate of decay from peak, color at peak and their observed peak absolute magnitudes when considered together are inconsistent with the echo model. Furthermore, when the observed values of M$_{B}$ are corrected for the effects of dust scattering, the values obtained imply that these supernovae have unrealistically high luminosities. We conclude that light echoes cannot properly account for the slow decline seen in some IIn's, and that the shock interaction is likely to dominate the continuum emission.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Possible Recovery of SN 1961V In Hubble Space Telescope Archival Images

SN 1961V in NGC 1058 was originally classified by Fritz Zwicky as a ``Type V'' supernova. However, it has been argued that SN 1961V was not a genuine supernova, but instead the superoutburst of an eta Carinae-like luminous blue variable star. In particular, Filippenko et al. (1995, AJ, 110, 2261) used pre-refurbishment HST WFPC images and the known radio position of SN 1961V to conclude that the star survived the eruption and is likely coincident with a V \~ 25.6 mag, V-I ~ 1.9 mag object. Recently, Stockdale et al. (2001, AJ, 122, 283) recovered the fading SN 1961V at radio wavelengths and argue that its behavior is similar that of some Type II supernovae. We have analyzed post-refurbishment archival HST WFPC2 data and find that the new radio position is still consistent with the Filippenko et al. object, which has not changed in brightness or color, but is also consistent with an adjacent, fainter (I ~ 24.3 mag) and very red (V-I > 1.0 mag) object. We suggest that this fainter object could be the survivor of SN 1961V. Forthcoming HST observations may settle this issue.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, to appear in the PASP (2002 July issue

A Chandra Observation of the Diffuse Emission in the Face-on Spiral NGC 6946

This paper describes the {\it Chandra} observation of the diffuse emission in the face-on spiral NGC 6946. Overlaid on optical and H${\alpha}$ images, the diffuse emission follows the spiral structure of the galaxy. An overlay on a 6 cm polarized radio intensity map confirms the phase offset of the polarized emission. We then extract and fit the spectrum of the unresolved emission with several spectral models. All model fits show a consistent continuum thermal temperature with a mean value of 0.25$\pm$0.03 keV. Additional degrees of freedom are required to obtain a good fit and any of several models satisfy that need; one model uses a second continuum component with a temperature of 0.70$\pm$0.10 keV. An abundance measure of 3$^{+1.95}_{-1.90}$ for Si differs from the solar value at the 90% confidence level; the net diffuse spectrum shows the line lies above the instrumental Si feature. For Fe, the abundance measure of 0.67$\pm$0.13 is significant at 99%. Multiple gaussians also provide a good fit. Two of the fitted gaussians capture the O VII and O VIII emission; the fitted emission is consistent with an {\it XMM-Newton} RGS spectrum of diffuse gas in M81. The ratio of the two lines is $<$0.6-0.7 and suggests the possibility of non-equilibrium ionization conditions exist in the ISM of NGC 6946. An extrapolation of the point source luminosity distribution shows the diffuse component is not the sum of unresolved point sources; their contribution is at most 25%.Comment: accepted for ApJ; 16 pages; 12 figs; to meet Archive size limits, most converted to jpe

A Deep ROSAT HRI Observation of NGC 1313

We describe a series of observations of NGC 1313 using the ROSAT HRI with a combined exposure time of 183.5 ksec. The observations span an interval between 1992 and 1998; the purpose of observations since 1994 was to monitor the X-ray flux of SN1978K, one of several luminous sources in the galaxy. No diffuse emission is detected in the galaxy to a level of ~1-2x10^37 ergs/s/arcmin^-2. A total of eight sources are detected in the summed image within the D_25 diameter of the galaxy. The luminosities of five of the eight range from \~6x10^37 to ~6x10^38 erg/s; these sources are most likely accreting X-ray binaries, similar to sources obseved in M31 and M33. The remaining three sources all emit above 10^39 erg/s. We present light curves of the five brightest sources. Variability is detected at the 99.9% level from four of these. We identify one of the sources as an NGC 1313 counterpart of a Galactic X-ray source. The light curve, though crudely sampled, most closely resembles that of a Galactic black hole candidate such as GX339-4, but with considerably higher peak X-ray luminosity. An additional seven sources lie outside of the D_25 diameter and are either foreground stars or background AGN.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures; accepted AJ, scheduled for November 200

Anharmonic transitions in nearly dry L-cysteine I

Two special dynamical transitions of universal character have been recently observed in macromolecules at $T_{D}\sim 180 - 220$ K and $T^{*}\sim 100$ K. Despite their relevance, a complete understanding of the nature of these transitions and their consequences for the bio-activity of the macromolecule is still lacking. Our results and analysis concerning the temperature dependence of structural, vibrational and thermodynamical properties of the orthorhombic polymorph of the amino acid L-cysteine (at a hydration level of 3.5%) indicated that the two referred temperatures define the triggering of very simple and specific events that govern all the biochemical interactions of the biomolecule: activation of rigid rotors ($T<T^{*}$), phonon-phonon interactions with phonons of water dimer ($T^{*}<T<T_{D}$), and water rotational barriers surpassing ($T>T_{D}$).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Early Chandra X-ray Observations of Eta Carinae

Sub-arcsecond resolution Chandra observations of Eta Carinae reveal a 40 arcsec X 70 arcsec ring or partial shell of X-ray emission surrounding an unresolved, bright, central source. The spectrum of the central source is strongly absorbed and can be fit with a high-temperature thermal continuum and emission lines. The surrounding shell is well outside the optical/IR bipolar nebula and is coincident with the Outer Shell of Eta Carinae. The X-ray spectrum of the Shell is much softer than that of the central source. The X-ray Shell is irregular and only correlates well with optical features where a bright X-ray knot coincides with a bright feature of the Outer Shell. Implications for the binary model of the central source are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Ap

Transversity and Transverse Spin in Nucleon Structure through SIDIS at Jefferson Lab

The JLab 12 GeV upgrade with a proposed solenoid detector and the CLAS12 detector can provide the granularity and three-dimensional kinematic coverage in longitudinal and transverse momentum, $0.1\le x \le 0.5$, $0.3 \le z \le 0.7$ with $P_T \le 1.5 {\rm GeV}$ to precisely measure the leading twist chiral-odd and $T$-odd quark distribution and fragmentation functions in SIDIS. The large $x$ experimental reach of these detectors with a 12 GeV CEBAF at JLab makes it {\em ideal} to obtain precise data on the {\em valence-dominated} transversity distribution function and to access the tensor charge.Comment: 7 Pages, 2 figures. Summary of the working group on Transversity and Transverse Spin Physics, from the workshop, "Inclusive and Semi-Inclusive Spin Physics with High Luminosity and LargeAcceptance at 11 GeV", Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLAB), December 13-14, 2006, Jefferson Lab, Newport News, VA USA. Serves as input for the Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan on QCD and Hadron Physic

Supernova 1996cr: SN 1987A's Wild Cousin?

We report on new VLT optical spectroscopic and multi-wavelength archival observations of SN1996cr, a previously identified ULX known as Circinus Galaxy X-2. Our optical spectrum confirms SN1996cr as a bona fide type IIn SN, while archival imaging isolates its explosion date to between 1995-02-28 and 1996-03-16. SN1996cr is one of the closest SNe (~3.8 Mpc) in the last several decades and in terms of flux ranks among the brightest radio and X-ray SNe ever detected. The wealth of optical, X-ray, and radio observations that exist for this source provide relatively detailed constraints on its post-explosion expansion and progenitor history, including an preliminary angular size constaint from VLBI. The archival X-ray and radio data imply that the progenitor of SN1996cr evacuated a large cavity just prior to exploding: the blast wave likely expanded for ~1-2 yrs before eventually striking the dense circumstellar material which surrounds SN1996cr. The X-ray and radio emission, which trace the progenitor mass-loss rate, have respectively risen by a factor of ~2 and remained roughly constant over the past 7 yr. This behavior is reminiscent of the late rise of SN1987A, but 1000 times more luminous and much more rapid to onset. Complex Oxygen line emission in the optical spectrum further hints at a possible concentric shell or ring-like structure. The discovery of SN1996cr suggests that a substantial fraction of the closest SNe observed in the last several decades have occurred in wind-blown bubbles. An Interplanetary Network position allows us to reject a tentative GRB association with BATSE 4B960202. [Abridged]Comment: 25 pages with tables, 12 figures (color), accepted to ApJ, comments welcome; v2 - updated to reflect the subsequent rejection of our tentative GRB association based on a revised error region from the Interplanetary Network (thanks to Kevin Hurley) and include a few additional references; v3 - corrected some errors in Tables 7 and