An estimation of the energy radiated by supernova 1987A

Abstract

The present work reports the estimation of the energy radiated by SN 1987A since its explosion, a quantity which is of special interest on account of the unusual characteristics of the star's light curve (faint maximum and low magnitude decline). The total energy may be defined as the area under the curve of the intensity I as a function time, where I is obtained from the absolute bolometric magnitude of the object: the contribution from the kinetic energy and that carried away by the neutrinos is explicitly excluded in this calculation. From the outburst until June 27, 1987, the light curve used for the supernova is that given by Milone et al. (1987, this issue); and from then on a lineal decrease of mᵥ with t is applied to evaluate E for two values of the bolometric correction (0.0 and -0.5) and also two different values of the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (46 and 52 kpc). SN 1987A has turned out to be an abnormally faint object for its class since the four energy values calculated lie between 6.5x10⁴⁸ erg and 1.3x10⁴⁹ erg, while the value currently accepted as normal (under the same hypothesis presented here) is about 3.6x10⁴⁹ erg. This paper will be published in full length elsewhere.