A BINARY ORIGIN FOR A CENTRAL COMPACT OBJECT (CCO)?

Figure: False-Colour X-ray and infrared emission image from the core of the infrared shell. The RGB colours correspond to Chandra X-ray 0.2-10 keV (blue), IRAC infrared 8 μm (green), and HPACS 70 μm (red) data. The intensity scale is logarithmic for all channels. Overlaid are equal brightness levels from the MIPS 24 μm band. Note that around the CCO the infrared emission is suppressed in the 70 μm band and enhanced in the 24 μm band suggesting higher dust temperature. Credit: Doroshenko et al 2016

Central compact objects (CCOs) are thought to be young isolated neutron stars that were born during the preceding core-collapse supernova explosion.

In a recent paper (Doroshenko et al. 2016) the authors assess that at least in one case the CCO candidate (XMMUJ173203.3-344518) could have been formed within a binary system.

They show that the optical source (IRAS 17287−3443) is surrounded by a dust shell and that the temperature of this infrared shell (heated by the central post-AGB star) increase in the vicinity of the CCO.

They suggest that the dust shell is related to a supernova ejecta because the total dust mass (~ 0.4-1.5 solar masses) significantly exceeds expected dust yields by normal stars.

Based on the morphology of the infrared shell and comparison of its evolutionary timescale with that of the SNR, they conclude that the post-AGB star and the progenitor of the remnant's CCO were likely members of the same binary system disrupted by the supernova explosion.

This could be the first evidence for a binary origin of a CCO.

Doroshenko et al 2016 (accepted in MNRAS) - Evidence for a binary origin of a central compact object - (arXiv)

Comments

A UNIVERSE WITHOUT A CENTER?

Image Credit: Eugenio Bianchi, Carlo Rovelli & Rocky Kolb. According to the standard theories of cosmology, there is no center of the universe. In a conventional explosion, material expand out from a central point and the instinct suggests that with the Big Bang happened something similar. But the Big Bang was not an explosion like that at all: it was an explosion of space, not an explosion in space . The Big Bang happened everywhere in the Universe.

UNIVERSE IS FINITE OR INFINITE?

Art by Moonrunner Design At present there is no answer to this question. However I will try to list the hypothesys currently on the table with related issues.

New research looks at how ‘cosmic web’ of filaments alters star formation in galaxies

Cosmic Web. Credit: NASA Astronomer Gregory Rudnick sees the universe crisscrossed by something like an interstellar superhighway system. Filaments — the strands of aggregated matter that stretch millions of light years across the universe to connect galaxy clusters — are the freeways. “Galaxies will flow along filaments from less dense parts of the universe to more dense parts of the universe, kind of like cars flowing down a highway to the big city. In this case, they are going toward big clusters, being pulled by the gravity of those large concentrations of matter,” he said. “I’m interested in how galaxies are affected by the regions in which they live,” Rudnick said. “Filaments are the first place where galaxies come into contact with higher density regions of the universe. If a galaxy in a ‘rural’ part of the universe enters a dense part, I want to know how its properties change — for example, does it change the number of stars it forms, or does its shape get altered? Us...

SpaceTime

Search This Blog