2 research outputs found
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Fallback and Black Hole Production in Massive Stars
The compact remnants of core collapse supernovae--neutron stars and black holes--have properties that reflect both the structure of their stellar progenitors and the physics of the explosion. In particular, the masses of these remnants are sensitive to the density structure of the presupernova star and to the explosion energy. To a considerable extent, the final mass is determined by the ''fallback'', during the explosion, of matter that initially moves outwards, yet ultimately fails to escape. We consider here the simulated explosion of a large number of massive stars (10 to 100 M{sub {circle_dot}}) of Population I (solar metallicity) and III (zero metallicity), and find systematic differences in the remnant mass distributions. As pointed out by Chevalier (1989), supernovae in more compact progenitor stars have stronger reverse shocks and experience more fallback. For Population III stars above about 25 M{sub {circle_dot}} and explosion energies less than 1.5 x 10{sup 51} erg, black holes are a common outcome, with masses that increase monotonically with increasing main sequence mass up to a maximum hole mass of about 35 M{sub {circle_dot}}. If such stars produce primary nitrogen, however, their black holes are systematically smaller. For modern supernovae with nearly solar metallicity, black hole production is much less frequent and the typical masses, which depend sensitively on explosion energy, are smaller. We explore the neutron star initial mass function for both populations and, for reasonable assumptions about the initial mass cut of the explosion, find good agreement with the average of observed masses of neutron stars in binaries. We also find evidence for a bimodal distribution of neutron star masses with a spike around 1.2 M{sub {circle_dot}} (gravitational mass) and a broader distribution peaked around 1.4 M{sub {circle_dot}}
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Swift Detects a Remarkable Gamma-Ray Burst, GRB 060614, That Introduces a New Classification Scheme
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are known to come in two duration classes, separated at {approx}2 s. Long bursts originate from star forming regions in galaxies, have accompanying supernovae (SNe) when near enough to observe and are likely caused by massive-star collapsars. Recent observations show that short bursts originate in regions within their host galaxies with lower star formation rates, consistent with binary neutron star (NS) or NS - black hole (BH) mergers. Moreover, although their hosts are predominantly nearby galaxies, no SNe have been so far associated with short GRBs. We report here on the bright, nearby GRB 060614 that does not fit in either class. Its {approx}102 s duration groups it with long GRBs, while its temporal lag and peak luminosity fall entirely within the short GRB subclass. Moreover, very deep optical observations exclude an accompanying supernova, similar to short GRBs. This combination of a long duration event without accompanying SN poses a challenge to both a collapsar and merging NS interpretation and opens the door on a new GRB classification scheme that straddles both long and short bursts