625 research outputs found
Nucleosynthesis Calculations for the Ejecta of Neutron Star Coalescences
We present the results of fully dynamical r-process network calculations for
the ejecta of neutron star mergers (NSMs). The late stages of the inspiral and
the final violent coalescence of a neutron star binary have been calculated in
detail using a 3D hydrodynamics code (Newtonian gravity plus backreaction
forces emerging from the emission of gravitational waves) and a realistic
nuclear equation of state. The found trajectories for the ejecta serve as input
for dynamical r-process calculations where all relevant nuclear reactions
(including beta-decays depositing nuclear energy in the expanding material) are
followed. We find that all the ejected material undergoes r-process. For an
initial Ye close to 0.1 the abundance distributions reproduce very accurately
the solar r-process pattern for nuclei with A above 130. For lighter nuclei
strongly underabundant (as compared to solar) distributions are encountered. We
show that this behaviour is consistent with the latest observations of very
old, metal-poor stars, despite simplistic arguments that have recently been
raised against the possibility of NSM as possible sources of Galactic r-process
material.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of Nuclei in the Cosmos 2000, to be
published in Nucl. Phys. A; minor correctio
Stellar evolution of massive stars at very low metallicities
Recently, measurements of abundances in extremely metal poor (EMP) stars have
brought new constraints on stellar evolution models. In an attempt to explain
the origin of the abundances observed, we computed pre--supernova evolution
models, explosion models and the related nucleosynthesis. In this paper, we
start by presenting the pre-SN models of rotating single stars with
metallicities ranging from solar metallicity down to almost metal free. We then
review key processes in core-collapse and bounce, before we integrate them in a
simplistic parameterization for 3D MHD models, which are well underway and
allow one to follow the evolution of the magnetic fields during collapse and
bounce. Finally, we present explosive nucleosynthesis results including
neutrino interactions with matter, which are calculated using the outputs of
the explosion models.
The main results of the pre-SN models are the following. First, primary
nitrogen is produced in large amount in models with an initial metallicity
. Second, at the same metallicity of and for models with
an initial mass larger than about 60 Mo, rotating models may experience heavy
mass loss (up to more than half of the initial mass of the star). The chemical
composition of these winds can qualitatively reproduce the abundance patterns
observed at the surface of carbon-rich EMP stars. Explosive nucleosynthesis
including neutrino-matter interactions produce improved abundances for iron
group elements, in particular for scandium and zinc. It also opens the way to a
new neutrino and proton rich process (p-process) able to contribute to the
nucleosynthesis of elements with A > 64. (Abridged)Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, Reviews of Modern Astronomy 19, proceedings for
79th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Deutsche Astronomische Gesellschaft
200
The Innermost Ejecta of Core Collapse Supernovae
We ensure successful explosions (of otherwise non-explosive models) by
enhancing the neutrino luminosity via reducing the neutrino scattering cross
sections or by increasing the heating efficiency via enhancing the neutrino
absorption cross sections in the heating region. Our investigations show that
the resulting electron fraction Ye in the innermost ejecta is close to 0.5, in
some areas even exceeding 0.5. We present the effects of the resulting values
for Ye on the nucleosynthesis yields of the innermost zones of core collapse
supernovae.Comment: 4pages, 2figures; contribution to Nuclei In The Cosmos VIII, to
appear in Nucl. Phys.
Nucleosynthesis in multi-dimensional SNIa explosions
We present the results of nucleosynthesis calculations based on
multidimensional (2D and 3D) hydrodynamical simulations of the thermonuclear
burning phase in SNIa. The detailed nucleosynthetic yields of our explosion
models are calculated by post-processing the ejecta, using passively advected
tracer particles. The nuclear reaction network employed in computing the
explosive nucleosynthesis contains 383 nuclear species. We analyzed two
different choices of ignition conditions (centrally ignited, in which the
spherical initial flame geometry is perturbated with toroidal rings, and
bubbles, in which multi-point ignition conditions are simulated). We show that
unburned C and O varies typically from ~40% to ~50% of the total ejected
material.The main differences between all our models and standard 1D
computations are, besides the higher mass fraction of unburned C and O, the C/O
ratio (in our case is typically a factor of 2.5 higher than in 1D
computations), and somewhat lower abundances of certain intermediate mass
nuclei such as S, Cl, Ar, K, and Ca, and of 56Ni. Because explosive C and O
burning may produce the iron-group elements and their isotopes in rather
different proportions one can get different 56Ni-fractions (and thus supernova
luminosities) without changing the kinetic energy of the explosion. Finally, we
show that we need the high resolution multi-point ignition (bubbles) model to
burn most of the material in the center (demonstrating that high resolution
coupled with a large number of ignition spots is crucial to get rid of unburned
material in a pure deflagration SNIa model).Comment: Accepted for A&A, 14 pages, 11 Figures, 2 Table
Nucleosynthesis Basics and Applications to Supernovae
This review concentrates on nucleosynthesis processes in general and their
applications to massive stars and supernovae. A brief initial introduction is
given to the physics in astrophysical plasmas which governs composition
changes. We present the basic equations for thermonuclear reaction rates and
nuclear reaction networks. The required nuclear physics input for reaction
rates is discussed, i.e. cross sections for nuclear reactions,
photodisintegrations, electron and positron captures, neutrino captures,
inelastic neutrino scattering, and beta-decay half-lives. We examine especially
the present state of uncertainties in predicting thermonuclear reaction rates,
while the status of experiments is discussed by others in this volume (see M.
Wiescher). It follows a brief review of hydrostatic burning stages in stellar
evolution before discussing the fate of massive stars, i.e. the nucleosynthesis
in type II supernova explosions (SNe II). Except for SNe Ia, which are
explained by exploding white dwarfs in binary stellar systems (which will not
be discussed here), all other supernova types seem to be linked to the
gravitational collapse of massive stars (M8M) at the end of their
hydrostatic evolution. SN1987A, the first type II supernova for which the
progenitor star was known, is used as an example for nucleosynthesis
calculations. Finally, we discuss the production of heavy elements in the
r-process up to Th and U and its possible connection to supernovae.Comment: 52 pages, 20 figures, uses cupconf.sty (included); to appear in
"Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics", eds. J. Hirsch., D. Page, Cambridge
University Pres
New Stellar Cross Sections and The "Karlsruhe Astrophysical Database of Nucleosynthesis in Stars"
Since April 2005 a regularly updated stellar neutron cross section
compilation is available online at http://nuclear-astrophysics.fzk.de/kadonis.
This online-database is called the "Karlsruhe Astrophysical Database of
Nucleosynthesis in Stars" project and is based on the previous Bao et al.
compilation from the year 2000. The present version \textsc{KADoNiS} v0.2
(January 2007) includes recommended cross sections for 280 isotopes between
H and Po and 75 semi-empirical estimates for isotopes without
experimental information. Concerning stellar cross sections of the
32 stable, proton-rich isotopes produced by the process experimental
information is only available for 20 isotopes, but 9 of them have rather large
uncertainties of 9%. The first part of a systematic study of stellar
cross sections of the -process isotopes Se, Sr,
Pd, Te, Ba, Ba, Dy, and Hf is
presented. In another application \textsc{KADoNiS} v0.2 was used for an
modification of a reaction library of Basel university. With this modified
library -process network calculations were carried out and compared to
previous results.Comment: Proceedings "International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and
Technology 2007", Nice/ Franc
Pushing 1D CCSNe to explosions: model and SN 1987A
We report on a method, PUSH, for triggering core-collapse supernova
explosions of massive stars in spherical symmetry. We explore basic explosion
properties and calibrate PUSH such that the observables of SN1987A are
reproduced. Our simulations are based on the general relativistic hydrodynamics
code AGILE combined with the detailed neutrino transport scheme IDSA for
electron neutrinos and ALS for the muon and tau neutrinos. To trigger
explosions in the otherwise non-exploding simulations, we rely on the
neutrino-driven mechanism. The PUSH method locally increases the energy
deposition in the gain region through energy deposition by the heavy neutrino
flavors. Our setup allows us to model the explosion for several seconds after
core bounce. We explore the progenitor range 18-21M. Our studies
reveal a distinction between high compactness (HC) and low compactness (LC)
progenitor models, where LC models tend to explore earlier, with a lower
explosion energy, and with a lower remnant mass. HC models are needed to obtain
explosion energies around 1 Bethe, as observed for SN1987A. However, all the
models with sufficiently high explosion energy overproduce Ni. We
conclude that fallback is needed to reproduce the observed nucleosynthesis
yields. The nucleosynthesis yields of Ni depend sensitively on the
electron fraction and on the location of the mass cut with respect to the
initial shell structure of the progenitor star. We identify a progenitor and a
suitable set of PUSH parameters that fit the explosion properties of SN1987A
when assuming 0.1M of fallback. We predict a neutron star with a
gravitational mass of 1.50M. We find correlations between explosion
properties and the compactness of the progenitor model in the explored
progenitors. However, a more complete analysis will require the exploration of
a larger set of progenitors with PUSH.Comment: revised version as accepted by ApJ (results unchanged, text modified
for clarification, a few references added); 26 pages, 20 figure
Nucleosynthesis in Two-Dimensional Delayed Detonation Models of Type Ia Supernova Explosions
The nucleosynthetic characteristics of various explosion mechanisms of Type
Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is explored based on three two-dimensional explosion
simulations representing extreme cases: a pure turbulent deflagration, a
delayed detonation following an approximately spherical ignition of the initial
deflagration, and a delayed detonation arising from a highly asymmetric
deflagration ignition. Apart from this initial condition, the deflagration
stage is treated in a parameter-free approach. The detonation is initiated when
the turbulent burning enters the distributed burning regime. This occurs at
densities around g cm -- relatively low as compared to existing
nucleosynthesis studies for one-dimensional spherically symmetric models. The
burning in these multidimensional models is different from that in
one-dimensional simulations as the detonation wave propagates both into
unburned material in the high density region near the center of a white dwarf
and into the low density region near the surface. Thus, the resulting yield is
a mixture of different explosive burning products, from carbon-burning products
at low densities to complete silicon-burning products at the highest densities,
as well as electron-capture products synthesized at the deflagration stage. In
contrast to the deflagration model, the delayed detonations produce a
characteristic layered structure and the yields largely satisfy constraints
from Galactic chemical evolution. In the asymmetric delayed detonation model,
the region filled with electron capture species (e.g., Ni, Fe) is
within a shell, showing a large off-set, above the bulk of Ni
distribution, while species produced by the detonation are distributed more
spherically (abridged).Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. 15 pages, 14 figures, 4 table
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