The SN 1987A Link to Others and Gamma-Ray Bursts

Early measurements of SN 1987A can be interpreted in light of the beam/jet (BJ), with a collimation factor >10, which had to hit polar ejecta (PE) to produce the “Mystery Spot” (MS), some 24 light-days distant. Other details of SN 1987A strongly suggest that it resulted from a merger of two stellar cores of a common envelope (CE) binary, i.e. a “double degenerate” (DD)-initiated SN. Without having to blast through the CE of Sk -69 202, it is likely that the BJ would have caused a full, long-soft gamma-ray burst (lGRB) upon hitting the PE, thus DD can produce lGRBs. Because DD must be the overwhelmingly dominant merger/SN mechanism in elliptical galaxies, where only short, hard GRBs (sGRBs) have been observed, DD without CE or PE must also produce sGRBs, and thus the pre-CE/PE impact photon spectrum of 99% of all GRBs is known, and neutron star (NS)-NS mergers may not make GRBs as we know them, and/or be as common as previously thought. Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in the non-core-collapsed globular clusters are also 99% DD-formed from white dwarf (WD)-WD merger, consistent with their 2.10 ms minimum spin period, the 2.14 ms signal seen from SN 1987A, and sGRBs offset from the centers of elliptical galaxies. The many details of Ia’s strongly suggest that these are also DD initiated, and the single degenerate total thermonuclear disruption paradigm is now in serious doubt as well. This is a cause for concern in Ia Cosmology, because Type Ia SNe will appear to be Ic’s when viewed from their DD merger poles, given sufficient matter above that lost to core-collapse. As a DD-initiated SN, 1987A appears to be the Rosetta Stone for 99% of SNe, GRBs and MSPs, including all recent nearby SNe except SN 1986J, and the more distant SN 2006gy. There is no need to invent exotica, such as “collapsars,” to account for GRBs. Subject headings: cosmology:observations–gamma-rays: bursts–pulsars:general— white dwarfs—stars: Wolf-Rayet—supernovae: general—supernovae: individual (SN 1987A) Modeling, Algorithms, & Informatics, CCS-3, MS B265, Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545; [email protected]