Dr. Dickel has planned several specific projects to answer questions about the structural properties of filaments in supernova remnants and the generation of their observed emission. The projects include searching for radio wavelength emission from the remnant SN1885 in the galaxy M31, continuum radio observations at more than one wavelength from remnants with different ages to evaluate their spectra and their particle acceleration mechanisms, radio wavelength polarimetry to study both the field strength and the relation of the field structure to the morphology of the emitting regions, and some studies of emission measures to investigate the depth along the line of sight and relate the emission to models of variously shaped emitting features. Supernova remnants have a variety of structures which can be observed in all wavelength regimes from the radio through the x- ray. Young remnants show a few very thin optical filaments on the outer periphery of the shell and then a thicker irregular shell at radio and x-ray wavelengths. The older remnants have identical radio and optical morphology consisting of a collection of sinuous filaments in a shell of more diffuse x-ray and radio emission. The resolution, sensitivity, and accuracy of modern aperture synthesis radio telescopes and optical detectors are now giving us the opportunity to answer some important questions relating to the structures of the remnants of supernovae. Dr. Dickel's research program is designed to take advantage of recently available state of the art instrumentation to examine supernova remnant structures in detail.
