Filomena Bufano

20/12/2016

bufanoAstroFIt 2 – COFUND fellow since November 1, 2016.

Project ended on December 29, 2016.

INAF Research Centre: Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania

Email: filomena.bufano at inaf.it

Curriculum vitae

In the media:

Project title: DOGLAS – Dust Origins in GaLActic Supernova remnants

Abstract:

Supernovae (SNe) are among the main responsible phenomena for the chemical enrichment of the Universe, releasing heavy elements in the environment. As recently observed, SNe could be significant dust factories, producing 0.1–1 M⊙ of dust in the ejecta. Such an amount of dust is lower than the theoretical models prediction and, most importantly, cannot explain the dust excess seen in high redshift galaxies. How much of the observed dust is really formed in SN ejecta? How much of it was pre-existing in the interstellar medium? Can dust tell us about SN dynamics and energetics and trace back the evolutionary pre-explosion stages of the progenitor?

I will perform a study of the emission of 68 SN remnants (SNR) in the Milky Way, collecting and comparing data from the infrared to the radio, with the aim to unveil the origin of the emitting dust. In particular, by applying a new methodology to Herschel data, for each SNR I will produce 2D maps of the dust physical properties (T, β and τν) distribution, by fitting the spectral energy distribution from the pixel to pixel emission, and interpreting them, e.g. as processed or not material, as pre-existing interstellar or freshly SN produced material, etc. The resulting Galactic SNR maps will become the perfect templates to be used as proxy for cosmological studies.

Moreover, they will represent precious new observational information for the theoretical community for the amelioration of their dust formation models.

I will perform also a polarimetric study of 3 SNRs using SCORPIO ATCA radio data, in order to construct detailed radio spectral index distribution maps and obtain key information on the magnetic field properties, useful in the high energy particles studies.