Dust Production and Particle Acceleration in Supernova 1987A Revealed
  with ALMA
  Supernova (SN) explosions are crucial engines driving the evolution of
galaxies by shock heating gas, increasing the metallicity, creating dust, and
accelerating energetic particles. In 2012 we used the Atacama Large
Millimeter/Submillimeter Array to observe SN 1987A, one of the best-observed
supernovae since the invention of the telescope. We present spatially resolved
images at 450um, 870um, 1.4mm, and 2.8mm, an important transition wavelength
range. Longer wavelength emission is dominated by synchrotron radiation from
shock-accelerated particles, shorter wavelengths by emission from the largest
mass of dust measured in a supernova remnant (>0.2Msun). For the first time we
show unambiguously that this dust has formed in the inner ejecta (the cold
remnants of the exploded star's core). The dust emission is concentrated to the
center of the remnant, so the dust has not yet been affected by the shocks. If
a significant fraction survives, and if SN 1987A is typical, supernovae are
important cosmological dust producers.
