Astronomers studied the remainder of a supernova type IA to disclose the mechanism of the cosmic explosion in detail. Although it is known that supernovae of this type arise in double systems consisting of white dwarfs and conventional companion stars, many parts of the process leading to the blast of white dwarf still remain a mystery. The results of the study are published in The Astrophysical Journal.
If the White Dwarf and the usual star rotate too close to each other, the first begins to attract the substance of his companion, increasing the mass. If this mass reaches the critical value, known as the Canderekar limit, then the outbreak of supernova will occur. At the same time, the stars of the star is discarded from the original explosion, but then it is faced with the resistance of the surround gas and slows down, creating a reverse shock wave, which moves to the explosion center.
In the new work of astronomers was observed for the remnant of supernova G344.7-0.1 with various telescopes, covering a wide range of radiation, including X-rays (Candra Space Observatory), infrared light (Spitzer Spacecope), and radio emission (VLA antenna arrays and ATCA). It is estimated that the age of the remnant reaches 3-6 thousand years. This means that the reverse shock wave has already managed to go through the whole field of the wreckage, heating them to a temperature of millions of degrees and forcing the X-ray radiation.
It turned out that the region with the highest density of iron is surrounded by arcuate structures containing silicon. Such arcuate structures are also detected for sulfur, argon and calcium. This means that the area with the highest iron density was heated with a reverse shock wave later than the elements of arcuate structures, and was located near the true center of the star explosion. The results confirm the predictions of models of supernova type IA explosions, according to which heavier elements are formed inside the exploding white dwarf.