Planetary nebula morphologies indicate a jet-driven explosion of SN 1987A and other core-collapse supernovae

TL;DR

This paper uses planetary nebulae structures to support the hypothesis that jets played a crucial role in shaping the ejecta of SN 1987A and other core-collapse supernovae, reinforcing the jittering jets explosion mechanism.

Contribution

It demonstrates that jet-shaped features in planetary nebulae can be used to infer jet activity in supernova explosions, providing new evidence for the jet-driven explosion model of SN 1987A.

Findings

Planetary nebulae rim-nozzle asymmetry indicates jet shaping.

SN 1987A's ejecta structure aligns with jet-driven models.

Supports the jittering jets explosion mechanism (JJEM).

Abstract

I demonstrate the usage of planetary nebulae (PNe) to infer that a pair of jets shaped the ejecta of the core-collapse supernova (CCSN) SN 1987A. The main structure of the SN 1987A inner ejecta, the keyhole, comprised two low-intensity zones. The northern one has a bright rim on its front, while the southern one has an elongated nozzle. Earlier comparison of the SN 1987A keyhole with bubbles in the galaxy group NGC 5813 led to its identification as a jet-shaped rim-nozzle structure. Here, I present rim-nozzle asymmetry in planetary nebulae (PNe), thought to be shaped by jets, which solidify the claim that jets powered the ejecta of SN 1987A and other CCSNe. This finding for the iconic SN 1987A with its unique properties strengthens the jittering jets explosion mechanism (JJEM) of CCSNe. In a few hundred years, the CCSN 1987A will have a complicated structure with two main symmetry axes, one along the axis of the three circumstellar rings that two opposite 20,000-years pre-explosion jets shaped, and the other along the long axis of the keyhole that was shaped by the main (but not the only) jet pair of the exploding jets of SN 1987A in the frame of the JJEM.