Possible post-kick jets in SN 1987A

Abstract

I suggest that the recently observed hot-dust elongated structure that likely engulfs the neutron star (NS) remnant of supernova (SN) 1987A was shaped by jets that the NS launched shortly after it acquired its natal kick velocity. I take the axis of the two post-kick jets to be along the long dimension of the hot-dust elongated structure, which I term the bipolar lobe. The jittering jets explosion mechanism accounts for the misalignment of the post-kick jets axis and the main-jets axis of the ejecta. For post-kick jets to shape the bipolar lobe their energy should have been about equal to the energy of the ejecta inner to the outer edge of the lobe, E2j≈Eej(Rlobe)≃4.6×1048erg. For an efficiency of ζ=0.01−0.1 to convert accretion energy to post-kick jets’ energy I estimate that the post-kick accreted mass was Macc,pk≈2×10−4−0.002M⊙. The negative jets feedback mechanism, where jets remove some of the mass that could have been accreted, accounts for the limited amount of accreted mass. This study adds to the growing recognition of the importance of jets in core collapse supernovae, including post-explosion jets.