A hydrodynamic mechanism for hot spot formation in the circumstellar ring of SN1987A

Since the light from supernova 1987A (SN1987A) first reached Earth, the evolution of the dying star has been the subject of intense study. In particular, several theories have been proposed to explain the formation of hot spots, or accumulations of mass, along the ring of gas surrounding the supernova origin. In this study, we assess the viability of a hydrodynamic mechanism related to the stability of interacting vortex cores (Crow instability) in explaining the formation of the mass accumulations. Perturbations along the circular cores, which would have formed when the progenitor star emitted the ring of gas approximately twenty-thousand years prior to the supernova, grow under the influence of their self- and mutually induced velocity fields. Our analysis predicts a dominant instability wavenumber consistent with the number of observed hot spots surrounding SN1987A, with important implications for nebula formation following supernovae.