76th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (November 19, 2023 — November 21, 2023)

P0033: Airplane-Wake Dynamics in Supernova Remnants

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Authors

• Michael Wadas, California Institute of Technology
• William White, University of Michigan
• Heath LeFevre, University of Michigan
• Carolyn Kuranz, University of Michigan
• Aaron Towne, University of Michigan
• Eric Johnsen, University of Michigan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2023.GFM.P0033

Supernova 1987A is the first supernova visible to the naked eye since Kepler's Supernova in 1604, the only one since the advent of modern telescopes. As a result, Supernova 1987A is a critical source of information related to stellar evolution and one of the most intensely studied astrophysical systems to date. Despite decades of intense research, the mechanism responsible for the formation of the clumps along the equatorial ring illuminated by the supernova blast is unknown. We propose a hydrodynamic mechanism, the same one that breaks up airplane condensation trails, that predicts a number of clumps remarkably consistent with observations, essentially solving this nearly four-decades-old problem of great scientific interest.