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

Super-AGB Stars and their role as Electron Capture Supernova progenitors

We review the lives, deaths and nucleosynthetic signatures of intermediate mass stars in the range approximately 6.5-12 Msun, which form super-AGB stars near the end of their lives. We examine the critical mass boundaries both between different types of massive white dwarfs (CO, CO-Ne, ONe) and between white dwarfs and supernovae and discuss the relative fraction of super-AGB stars that end life as either an ONe white dwarf or as a neutron star (or an ONeFe white dwarf), after undergoing an electron capture supernova. We also discuss the contribution of the other potential single-star channels to electron-capture supernovae, that of the failed massive stars. We describe the factors that influence these different final fates and mass limits, such as composition, the efficiency of convection, rotation, nuclear reaction rates, mass loss rates, and third dredge-up efficiency. We stress the importance of the binary evolution channels for producing electron-capture supernovae. We discuss recent nucleosynthesis calculations and elemental yield results and present a new set of s-process heavy element yield predictions. We assess the contribution from super-AGB star nucleosynthesis in a Galactic perspective, and consider the (super-)AGB scenario in the context of the multiple stellar populations seen in globular clusters. A brief summary of recent works on dust production is included. Lastly we conclude with a discussion of the observational constraints and potential future advances for study into these stars on the low mass/high mass star boundary.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures. Invited review for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, to be published in special issue on "Electron Capture Supernovae". Submitte

Genetic parameters for animal mortality in pasture-based, seasonal-calving dairy and beef herds

peer-reviewedIn the absence of informative health and welfare phenotypes, breeding for reduced animal mortality could improve overall health and welfare, provided genetic variability in animal mortality exists. The objective of the present study was to estimate genetic (and other) variance components for animal mortality in pasture-based, seasonal-calving dairy and beef herds across multiple life stages as well as to quantify the genetic relationship in mortality among life stages. National mortality records were available for all cattle born in the Republic of Ireland. Cattle were grouped into three life stages based on age (0 to 30 days, 31 to 365 days, 366 to 1095 days) whereas females with ≥1 calving event were also grouped into five life stages, based on parity number (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), considering both the initial 60 days of lactation and a cow's entire lactation period, separately. The mean mortality prevalence ranged from 0.70 to 5.79% in young animals and from 0.53 to 3.86% in cows. Variance components and genetic correlations were estimated using linear mixed models using 21,637 to 100,993 records. Where heritability estimates were different from zero, direct heritability estimates for mortality in young animals (≤1095 days) ranged from 0.006 to 0.040, whereas the genetic standard deviation ranged from 0.015 to 0.034. The contribution of a maternal genetic effect to mortality in young animals was evident up to 30 days of age in dairy herds, but this was only the case in preliminary analysis of stillbirths in beef herds. Based on the estimated genetic standard deviation in the present study, the incidence of mortality in young animals could be reduced through breeding by up to 3.4 percentage units per generation. For cows, direct heritability estimates for mortality, where different from zero, ranged from 0.003 to 0.049. The genetic standard deviation for mortality in cows ranged from 0.005 to 0.016 during the initial 60 days of lactation and ranged from 0.011 to 0.032 during the cow's entire lactation. Genetic correlations among the age groups as well as between the age groups and cow parities had high standard errors. Genetic correlations among the cow parities were moderate to strongly positive (ranging from 0.66 to 0.99) and mostly different from zero. Results from the present study can be used to inform genetic evaluations for mortality in young animals and in cows as well as the potential genetic gain achievable

Patients’ willingness to complete written incident report forms in one UK tertiary cancer hospital

This article examines patients’ willingness to complete incident report forms (IRF), providing a description of the event or concern. Differing from other studies, its design enabled patients to report incidents when and if they felt this necessary, rather than responding to researchers’ questions. 145 patients receiving treatment for cancer in a UK hospital were invited to participate. Of the 100 patients who agreed to participate, only 13 completed a total of 22 forms. The form’s purpose was not easily understood, often perceived as complaining and patients tended to report relatively trivial matters. Contrary to previous studies, this study found little evidence that IRFs are the right tool for enabling patients’ proactive involvement in safety improvement. Asking patients to monitor their safety by completing IRFs may serve to undermine patients’ trust in their clinicians while duplicating resources

Measurable quantum geometric phase from a rotating single spin

We demonstrate that the internal magnetic states of a single nitrogen-vacancy defect, within a rotating diamond crystal, acquire geometric phases. The geometric phase shift is manifest as a relative phase between components of a superposition of magnetic substates. We demonstrate that under reasonable experimental conditions a phase shift of up to four radians could be measured. Such a measurement of the accumulation of a geometric phase, due to macroscopic rotation, would be the first for a single atom-scale quantum system.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Partial mixing and the formation of 13C pockets in AGB stars: effects on the s-process elements

The production of the elements heavier than iron via slow neutron captures (the s process) is a main feature of the contribution of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars of low mass (< 5 Msun) to the chemistry of the cosmos. However, our understanding of the main neutron source, the 13C(alpha,n)16O reaction, is still incomplete. It is commonly assumed that in AGB stars mixing beyond convective borders drives the formation of 13C pockets. However, there is no agreement on the nature of such mixing and free parameters are present. By means of a parametric model we investigate the impact of different mixing functions on the final s-process abundances in low-mass AGB models. Typically, changing the shape of the mixing function or the mass extent of the region affected by the mixing produce the same results. Variations in the relative abundance distribution of the three s-process peaks (Sr, Ba, and Pb) are generally within +/-0.2 dex, similar to the observational error bars. We conclude that other stellar uncertainties - the effect of rotation and of overshoot into the C-O core - play a more important role than the details of the mixing function. The exception is at low metallicity, where the Pb abundance is significantly affected. In relation to the composition observed in stardust SiC grains from AGB stars, the models are relatively close to the data only when assuming the most extreme variation in the mixing profile.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publications on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Spin-Dependent Quantum Emission in Hexagonal Boron Nitride at Room Temperature

Optically addressable spins associated with defects in wide-bandgap semiconductors are versatile platforms for quantum information processing and nanoscale sensing, where spin-dependent inter-system crossing (ISC) transitions facilitate optical spin initialization and readout. Recently, the van der Waals material hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has emerged as a robust host for quantum emitters (QEs), but spin-related effects have yet to be observed. Here, we report room-temperature observations of strongly anisotropic photoluminescence (PL) patterns as a function of applied magnetic field for select QEs in h-BN. Field-dependent variations in the steady-state PL and photon emission statistics are consistent with an electronic model featuring a spin-dependent ISC between triplet and singlet manifolds, indicating that optically-addressable spin defects are present in h-BN $-$ a versatile two-dimensional material promising efficient photon extraction, atom-scale engineering, and the realization of spin-based quantum technologies using van der Waals heterostructures.Comment: 38 pages, 34 figure