Gamma-ray continuum and line observations of SN 1987A
Abstract
The Caltech y-ray imaging telescope observed the hard X-ray and γ-ray emission from SN 1987A as it evolved between 1987 May and 1989 April, in a series of four balloon flights from Alice Springs, NT, Australia. Observations of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar provided in-flight data on pointing accuracy and instrument function for each flight. Results presented here include our measurements on 1987 November 18, (D268) and 1988 April 12, (D414) of both line emission at 847 and 1238 keV from the decay of ^(56)Co, and Compton-scattered continuum above 50 keV. Upper limits for both line and continuum emission were obtained on 1987 May 20, (D86) and 1989 April 4, (D771). For the D268 and D414 continuum measurements, our results are best-fit by a differential power law of the form dN/dE = κE^(-γ) (cm^(-2) s^(-1) keV) for the energy range 50-800 keV. Our corresponding line measurements were fit with Gaussian profiles, containing additional terms for the underlying continuum. We compare our flux measurements and upper limits to those from other experiments and to predictions of theoretical models.
Additional Information
© 1993 American Astronomical Society. Received 1992 December 8; accepted 1993 January 27. We acknowledge the important contributions to the development of the GRIP instrument made by W. Althouse, D. Burke, A. Cummings, M. Finger, C. Starr, J. Weger, and the personnel of the Central Engineering Services at the California Institute of Technology. We thank the personnel of the National Scientific Balloon Facility and the NASA Wallops Flight Facility for their excellent balloon launch support. This work was supported in part by NASA grants NGR 05-002-160 and NAGW-1919.Attached Files
Published - 1993ApJ___412__203P.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 49004
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20140827-141430985
- NGR 05-002-160
- NASA
- NAGW-1919
- NASA
- Created
-
2014-08-27Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Space Radiation Laboratory
- Other Numbering System Name
- Space Radiation Laboratory
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- 1993-22