2010 - 19th Annual NC State Undergraduate Research Spring Symposium

Session Time : 4/22/10 10:30 AM - 4/22/10 11:45 AM

Content Area : Physics

Student Presenters :
Mary Ita Burkey Physics

Mentors and/or Co-Authors :
Stephen Reynolds Physics
Kazik Borkowski Physics

Abstract Title : X-ray Emission From Circumstellar Material In Kepler's (Type Ia) SNR

Abstract :
Thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernovae are important in astronomy, producing most iron in the Universe and having uniform enough light curves to serve as distance standards. Despite this, very little is understood about Type Ia’s and studying their remnants is a way to remedy it. Though Kepler’s Supernova (SN 1604) seems to have been a thermonuclear event, its remnant is currently expanding into a dense circumstellar medium (CSM), which is very unusual for Type Ia's. Using a 750ks Chandra X-ray observation of SN 1604, we have been working to separate the swept up CSM from shocked stellar material. We segmented the image to minimize noise and divided it into four energy bands (specific to silicon and sulfur, oxygen, iron, and magnesium). By comparing the brightness ratios in these bands, we succeeded in isolating the CSM using a Gaussian mixture model program. When compared to an infrared image, the isolated regions from the mixture model showed a clear correspondence, confirming a CSM origin. We are now performing spectral analysis on the identified CSM regions.