Evolution of Rotating Accreting White Dwarfs and the Diversity of Type Ia Supernovae

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have relatively uniform light curves and spectral evolution, which make SNe Ia useful standard candles to determine cosmological parameters. However, the peak brightness is not completely uniform, and the origin of the diversity has not been clear. We examine whether the rotation of progenitor white dwarfs (WDs) can be the important source of the diversity of the brightness of SNe Ia. We calculate the structure of rotating WDs with an axisymmetric hydrostatic code. The diversity of the mass induced by the rotation is ~0.08 Msun and is not enough to explain the diversity of luminosity. However, we found the following relation between the initial mass of the WDs and their final state; i.e., a WD of smaller initial mass will rotate more rapidly before the supernova explosion than that of larger initial mass. This result might explain the dependence of SNe Ia on their host galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

The Connection between Gamma-Ray Bursts and Extremely Metal-Poor Stars as Nucleosynthetic Probes of the Early Universe

The connection between the long GRBs and Type Ic Supernovae (SNe) has revealed the interesting diversity: (i) GRB-SNe, (ii) Non-GRB Hypernovae (HNe), (iii) X-Ray Flash (XRF)-SNe, and (iv) Non-SN GRBs (or dark HNe). We show that nucleosynthetic properties found in the above diversity are connected to the variation of the abundance patterns of extremely-metal-poor (EMP) stars, such as the excess of C, Co, Zn relative to Fe. We explain such a connection in a unified manner as nucleosynthesis of hyper-aspherical (jet-induced) explosions Pop III core-collapse SNe. We show that (1) the explosions with large energy deposition rate, $\dot{E}_{\rm dep}$, are observed as GRB-HNe and their yields can explain the abundances of normal EMP stars, and (2) the explosions with small $\dot{E}_{\rm dep}$ are observed as GRBs without bright SNe and can be responsible for the formation of the C-rich EMP (CEMP) and the hyper metal-poor (HMP) stars. We thus propose that GRB-HNe and the Non-SN GRBs (dark HNe) belong to a continuous series of BH-forming stellar deaths with the relativistic jets of different $\dot{E}_{\rm dep}$.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. To appear in "Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines", Proceedings of IAU Symposium 250 (December 2007, Kauai), eds. F. Bresolin, P.A. Crowther, & J. Puls (Cambridge Univ. Press

Multipole expansion for magnetic structures: A generation scheme for symmetry-adapted orthonormal basis set in crystallographic point group

We propose a systematic method to generate a complete orthonormal basis set of multipole expansion for magnetic structures in arbitrary crystal structure. The key idea is the introduction of a virtual atomic cluster of a target crystal, on which we can clearly define the magnetic configurations corresponding to symmetry-adapted multipole moments. The magnetic configurations are then mapped onto the crystal so as to preserve the magnetic point group of the multipole moments, leading to the magnetic structures classified according to the irreducible representations of crystallographic point group. We apply the present scheme to pyrhochlore and hexagonal ABO3 crystal structures, and demonstrate that the multipole expansion is useful to investigate the macroscopic responses of antiferromagnets

Nucleosynthesis in Core-Collapse Supernovae and GRB--Metal-Poor Star Connection

We review the nucleosynthesis yields of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) for various stellar masses, explosion energies, and metallicities. Comparison with the abundance patterns of metal-poor stars provides excellent opportunities to test the explosion models and their nucleosynthesis. We show that the abundance patterns of extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars, e.g., the excess of C, Co, Zn relative to Fe, are in better agreement with the yields of hyper-energetic explosions (Hypernovae, HNe) rather than normal supernovae. We note that the variation of the abundance patterns of EMP stars are related to the diversity of the Supernova-GRB connection. We summarize the diverse properties of (1) GRB-SNe, (2) Non-GRB HNe/SNe, (3) XRF-SN, and (4) Non-SN GRB. In particular, the Non-SN GRBs (dark hypernovae) have been predicted in order to explain the origin of C-rich EMP stars. We show that these variations and the connection can be modeled in a unified manner with the explosions induced by relativistic jets. Finally, we examine whether the most luminous supernova 2006gy can be consistently explained with the pair-instability supernova model.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. To appear in "Supernova 1987A: 20 Years After: Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursters", eds. S. Immler, K. Weiler, & R. McCray (American Institute of Physics) (2007

Stability of the r-modes in white dwarf stars

Stability of the r-modes in rapidly rotating white dwarf stars is investigated. Improved estimates of the growth times of the gravitational-radiation driven instability in the r-modes of the observed DQ Her objects are found to be longer (probably considerably longer) than 6x10^9y. This rules out the possibility that the r-modes in these objects are emitting gravitational radiation at levels that could be detectable by LISA. More generally it is shown that the r-mode instability can only be excited in a very small subset of very hot (T>10^6K), rather massive (M>0.9M_sun) and very rapidly rotating (P_min<P<1.2P_min) white dwarf stars. Further, the growth times of this instability are so long that these conditions must persist for a very long time (t>10^9y) to allow the amplitude to grow to a dynamically significant level. This makes it extremely unlikely that the r-mode instability plays a significant role in any real white dwarf stars.Comment: 5 Pages, 5 Figures, revte

Trigger and Reconstruction for a heavy long lived charged particles with the ATLAS detector

Long lived charged particles are predicted by many models of physics beyond the standard model (SM). The common signature of such models is a heavy long-lived charged particle with velocity smaller than the speed of light, beta<1. This unique signature makes the search for it model independent. This paper presents methods developed as part of the ATLAS trigger and reconstruction chain for identifying slow particles and measuring their mass. The efficacy of these methods is demonstrated using two models that are different in every aspect except for the existence of long lived charged particles; A GMSB model that includes sleptons with a mass of 100 GeV, and R-Hadrons with a mass of 300 GeV produced in a split SUSY model

The Unique Type Ib Supernova 2005bf at Nebular Phases: A Possible Birth Event of A Strongly Magnetized Neutron Star

Late phase nebular spectra and photometry of Type Ib Supernova (SN) 2005bf taken by the Subaru telescope at ~ 270 and ~ 310 days since the explosion are presented. Emission lines ([OI]6300, 6363, [CaII]7291, 7324, [FeII]7155) show the blueshift of ~ 1,500 - 2,000 km s-1. The [OI] doublet shows a doubly-peaked profile. The line luminosities can be interpreted as coming from a blob or jet containing only ~ 0.1 - 0.4 Msun, in which ~ 0.02 - 0.06 Msun is 56Ni synthesized at the explosion. To explain the blueshift, the blob should either be of unipolar moving at the center-of-mass velocity v ~ 2,000 - 5,000 km s-1, or suffer from self-absorption within the ejecta as seen in SN 1990I. In both interpretations, the low-mass blob component dominates the optical output both at the first peak (~ 20 days) and at the late phase (~ 300 days). The low luminosity at the late phase (the absolute R magnitude M_R ~ -10.2 mag at ~ 270 days) sets the upper limit for the mass of 56Ni < ~ 0.08 Msun, which is in contradiction to the value necessary to explain the second, main peak luminosity (M_R ~ -18.3 mag at ~ 40 days). Encountered by this difficulty in the 56Ni heating model, we suggest an alternative scenario in which the heating source is a newly born, strongly magnetized neutron star (a magnetar) with the surface magnetic field Bmag ~ 10^{14-15} gauss and the initial spin period P0 ~ 10 ms. Then, SN 2005bf could be a link between normal SNe Ib/c and an X-Ray Flash associated SN 2006aj, connected in terms of Bmag and/or P0.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted by the Astrophysical Journa