8,059 research outputs found
Explosion of white dwarfs harboring hybrid CONe cores
Recently, it has been found that off-centre carbon burning in a subset of
intermediate-mass stars does not propagate all the way to the center, resulting
in a class of hybrid CONe cores. Here, we consider the possibility that stars
hosting these hybrid CONe cores might belong to a close binary system and,
eventually, become white dwarfs accreting from a non-degenerate companion at
rates leading to a supernova explosion. We have computed the hydrodynamical
phase of the explosion of Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs harboring hybrid
cores, assuming that the explosion starts at the center, either as a detonation
(as may be expected in some degenerate merging scenarios) or as a deflagration
(that afterwards transitions into a delayed detonation). We assume these hybrid
cores are made of a central CO volume, of mass M(CO), surrounded by an ONe
shell. We show that, in case of a pure detonation, a medium-sized CO-rich
region, M(CO)<0.4 Msun, results in the ejection of a small fraction of the
mantle while leaving a massive bound remnant. Part of this remnant is made of
the products of the detonation, Fe-group nuclei, but they are buried in its
inner regions, unless convection is activated during the ensuing cooling and
shrinking phase of the remnant. In contrast, and somehow paradoxically, delayed
detonations do not leave remnants but for the minimum M(CO) we have explored,
M(CO)=0.2 Msun, and even in this case the remnant is as small as 0.13 Msun. The
ejecta produced by these delayed detonations are characterized by slightly
smaller masses of 56Ni and substantially smaller kinetic energies than obtained
for a delayed detonation of a 'normal' CO white dwarf. The optical emission
expected from these explosions would hardly match the observational properties
of typical Type Ia supernovae, although they make interesting candidates for
the subluminous class of SN2002cx-like or SNIax.Comment: Accepted for Astronomy and Astrophysics, 11 pages, 4 figure
Classical Antiferromagnetism in Kinetically Frustrated Electronic Models
We study the infinite U Hubbard model with one hole doped away half-filling,
in triangular and square lattices with frustrated hoppings that invalidate
Nagaoka's theorem, by means of the density matrix renormalization group. We
find that these kinetically frustrated models have antiferromagnetic ground
states with classical local magnetization in the thermodynamic limit. We
identify the mechanism of this kinetic antiferromagnetism with the release of
the kinetic energy frustration as the hole moves in the established
antiferromagnetic background. This release can occurs in two different ways: by
a non-trivial spin-Berry phase acquired by the hole or by the effective
vanishing of the hopping amplitude along the frustrating loops.Comment: 12 pages and 4 figures, with Supplementary Material. To be published
in Phys. Rev. Let
The Convective Urca Process with Implicit Two-Dimensional Hydrodynamics
Consideration of the role of the convective flux in the thermodymics of the
convective Urca neutrino loss process in degenerate, convective, quasi-static,
carbon-burning cores shows that the convective Urca process slows down the
convective current around the Urca-shell, but, unlike the "thermal" Urca
process, does not reduce the entropy or temperature for a given convective
volume. Here we demonstrate these effects with two-dimensional numerical
hydrodynamical calculations. These two-dimensional implicit hydrodynamics
calculations invoke an artificial speeding up of the nuclear and weak rates.
They should thus be regarded as indicative, but still qualitative. We find
that, compared to a case with no Urca-active nuclei, the case with Urca effects
leads to a higher entropy in the convective core because the energy released by
nuclear burning is confined to a smaller volume by the effective boundary at
the Urca shell. All else being equal, this will tend to accelerate the
progression to dynamical runaway. We discuss the open issues regarding the
impact of the convective Urca process on the evolution to the "smoldering
phase" and then to dynamical runaway.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Gravitational settling of 22Ne and white dwarf evolution
We study the effects of the sedimentation of the trace element 22Ne in the
cooling of white dwarfs. In contrast with previous studies, which adopted a
simplified treatment of the effects of 22Ne sedimentation, this is done
self-consistently for the first time, using an up-to-date stellar evolutionary
code in which the diffusion equation is coupled with the full set of equations
of stellar evolution. Due the large neutron excess of 22Ne, this isotope
rapidly sediments in the interior of the white dwarf. Although we explore a
wide range of parameters, we find that using the most reasonable assumptions
concerning the diffusion coefficient and the physical state of the white dwarf
interior the delay introduced by the ensuing chemical differentation is minor
for a typical 0.6 Msun white dwarf. For more massive white dwarfs, say M_Wd
about 1.0 Msun, the delay turns out to be considerably larger. These results
are in qualitatively good accord with those obtained in previous studies, but
we find that the magnitude of the delay introduced by 22Ne sedimentation was
underestimated by a factor of about 2. We also perform a preliminary study of
the impact of 22Ne sedimentation on the white dwarf luminosity function.
Finally, we hypothesize as well on the possibility of detecting the
sedimentation of 22Ne using pulsating white dwarfs in the appropriate effective
temperature range with accurately determined rates of change of the observed
periods.Comment: To apper in The Astrophysical Journa
The impact of chemical differentiation of white dwarfs on thermonuclear supernovae
Gravitational settling of 22Ne in cooling white dwarfs can affect the outcome
of thermonuclear supernovae. We investigate how the supernova energetics and
nucleosynthesis are in turn influenced by this process. We use realistic
chemical profiles derived from state-of-the-art white dwarf cooling sequences.
The cooling sequences provide a link between the white dwarf chemical structure
and the age of the supernova progenitor system. The cooling sequence of a 1
M_sun white dwarf was computed until freezing using an up-to-date stellar
evolutionary code. We computed explosions of both Chandrasekhar mass and
sub-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs, assuming spherical symmetry and neglecting
convective mixing during the pre-supernova carbon simmering phase to maximize
the effects of chemical separation. Neither gravitational settling of 22Ne nor
chemical differentiation of 12C and 16O have an appreciable impact on the
properties of Type Ia supernovae, unless there is a direct dependence of the
flame properties (density of transition from deflagration to detonation) on the
chemical composition. At a fixed transition density, the maximum variation in
the supernova magnitude obtained from progenitors of different ages is ~0.06
magnitudes, and even assuming an unrealistically large diffusion coefficient of
22Ne it would be less than ~0.09 mag. However, if the transition density
depends on the chemical composition (all other things being equal) the oldest
SNIa can be as much as 0.4 magnitudes brighter than the youngest ones (in our
models the age difference is 7.4 Gyr). In addition, our results show that 22Ne
sedimentation cannot be invoked to account for the formation of a central core
of stable neutron-rich Fe-group nuclei in the ejecta of sub-Chandrasekhar
models, as required by observations of Type Ia supernovae.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted for Astronomy and
Astrophysics. Revised version with corrected typo
Gravitational Settling of ^{22}Ne in Liquid White Dwarf Interiors--Cooling and Seismological Effects
We assess the impact of the trace element ^{22}Ne on the cooling and
seismology of a liquid C/O white dwarf (WD). Due to this elements' neutron
excess, it sinks towards the interior as the liquid WD cools. The subsequent
gravitational energy released slows the cooling of the WD by 0.25--1.6 Gyrs by
the time it has completely crystallized, depending on the WD mass and the
adopted sedimentation rate. The effects will make massive WDs or those in metal
rich clusters (such as NGC 6791) appear younger than their true age. Our
diffusion calculations show that the ^{22}Ne mass fraction in the crystallized
core actually increases outwards. The stability of this configuration has not
yet been determined. In the liquid state, the settled ^{22}Ne enhances the
internal buoyancy of the interior and changes the periods of the high radial
order g-modes by approximately 1%. Though a small adjustment, this level of
change far exceeds the accuracy of the period measurements. A full assessment
and comparison of mode frequencies for specific WDs should help constrain the
still uncertain ^{22}Ne diffusion coefficient for the liquid interior.Comment: 26 pages (11 text pages with 15 figures); to appear in The
Astrophysical Journa
Type Ia supernovae and the ^{12}C+^{12}C reaction rate
The experimental determination of the cross-section of the ^{12}C+^{12}C
reaction has never been made at astrophysically relevant energies (E<2 MeV).
The profusion of resonances throughout the measured energy range has led to
speculation that there is an unknown resonance at E\sim1.5 MeV possibly as
strong as the one measured for the resonance at 2.14 MeV. We study the
implications that such a resonance would have for the physics of SNIa, paying
special attention to the phases that go from the crossing of the ignition curve
to the dynamical event. We use one-dimensional hydrostatic and hydrodynamic
codes to follow the evolution of accreting white dwarfs until they grow close
to the Chandrasekhar mass and explode as SNIa. In our simulations, we account
for a low-energy resonance by exploring the parameter space allowed by
experimental data. A change in the ^{12}C+^{12}C rate similar to the one
explored here would have profound consequences for the physical conditions in
the SNIa explosion, namely the central density, neutronization, thermal
profile, mass of the convective core, location of the runaway hot spot, or time
elapsed since crossing the ignition curve. For instance, with the largest
resonance strength we use, the time elapsed since crossing the ignition curve
to the supernova event is shorter by a factor ten than for models using the
standard rate of ^{12}C+^{12}C, and the runaway temperature is reduced from
\sim8.14\times10^{8} K to \sim4.26\times10^{8} K. On the other hand, a
resonance at 1.5 MeV, with a strength ten thousand times smaller than the one
measured at 2.14 MeV, but with an {\alpha}/p yield ratio substantially
different from 1 would have a sizeable impact on the degree of neutronization
of matter during carbon simmering. We conclude that a robust understanding of
the links between SNIa properties and their progenitors will not be attained
until the ^{12}C+^{12}C reaction rate is measured at energies \sim1.5 MeV.Comment: 15 pages, 6 tables, 10 figures, accepted for Astronomy and
Astrophysic
A Focusing Method in the Calibration Process of Image Sensors Based on IOFBs
A focusing procedure in the calibration process of image sensors based on Incoherent Optical Fiber Bundles (IOFBs) is described using the information extracted from fibers. These procedures differ from any other currently known focusing method due to the non spatial in-out correspondence between fibers, which produces a natural codification of the image to transmit. Focus measuring is essential prior to carrying out calibration in order to guarantee accurate processing and decoding. Four algorithms have been developed to estimate the focus measure; two methods based on mean grey level, and the other two based on variance. In this paper, a few simple focus measures are defined and compared. Some experimental results referred to the focus measure and the accuracy of the developed methods are discussed in order to demonstrate its effectiveness
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