Heating and cooling in reverse shocks into pure heavy-element supernova ejecta

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (44) References (38) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Heating nd cooling in reverse shocks into pure heavy-element supernova ejecta. Hamilton, A. J. S. ; Sarazin, C. L. Abstract Electron heating and cooling in reverse shocks into pure heavy-element supernova ejecta with shock velocities in the range of a few hundred to a few thousand km/s, are examined. Collisionless heating of electrons at a shock front in pure heavy-element ejecta tends to have a smaller, though still appreciable, effect than is the case for a cosmic-abundance plasma. This is mainly because only previously ionized electrons entering the shock front can be collisionlessly heated, whereas the majority of electrons are only subsequently ionized and must be heated by collisions. The preshock ionization state depends mainly on photoionizing emission from the reverse shock which can cause substantial photoionization at early times when the ejecta is optically thick to ionizing radiation. Cooling is important in pure heavy-element ejecta and may result in thermal instabilities and runaway cooling at early times. The results of numerical computations are presented for some particular case. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: December 1984 DOI: 10.1086/162687 Bibcode: 1984ApJ...287..282H Keywords: Electron Plasma; Heavy Elements; Plasma Cooling; Shock Fronts; Shock Heating; Supernova Remnants; Abundance; Computational Astrophysics; Electron Energy; Ionizing Radiation; Optical Thickness; Plasma Heating; Stellar Mass Ejection; Astrophysics full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (2)