David Arnett

Nucleosynthesis and chemical evolution of galaxies

Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction and overview 2. Thermonuclear reaction rates 3. Cosmic abundances of elements and isotopes 4. Cosmological nucleosynthesis and abundances of light elements 5. Outline of stellar structure and evolution 6. Neutron capture processes 7. Galactic chemical evolution: basic concepts and issues 8. Some specific GCE models and related observational data 9. Origin and evolution of light elements 10. Radioactive cosmochronology 11. Chemical evolution in other sorts of galaxies 12. Cosmic chemical evolution and diffuse background radiation Appendices References Index.

Instabilities and clumping in SN 1987A. I, Early evolution in two dimensions

This paper presents new calculations of instabilities, mixing, and clumping in the ejecta of SN 1987A, which are an extension of calculations published of Arnett et al. (1989) and which make it possible to differentiate between physical and numerical effects. It is shown that perturbations of physically reasonable amplitude provide sufficient mixing and clumping to explain the earlier than expected observations of X-rays and gamma rays and the shape of the SN 1987A light curve. It is also shown that the degree of clumping also affects estimates of mass from modeling the light curves of SN Ib. 77 refs.

An experimental testbed for the study of hydrodynamic issues in supernovae

More than a decade after the explosion of supernova 1987A, unresolved discrepancies still remain in attempts to numerically simulate the mixing processes initiated by the passage of a very strong shock through the layered structure of the progenitor star. Numerically computed velocities of the radioactive 56Ni and 56Co, produced by shock-induced explosive burning within the silicon layer, for example, are still more than 50% too low as compared with the measured velocities. To resolve such discrepancies between observation and simulation, an experimental testbed has been designed on the Omega Laser for the study of hydrodynamic issues of importance to supernovae (SNe). In this paper, results are presented from a series of scaled laboratory experiments designed to isolate and explore several issues in the hydrodynamics of supernova explosions. The results of the experiments are compared with numerical simulations and are generally found to be in reasonable agreement.

A theory of nonlocal mixing-length convection. I: The moment formalism

A flexible and potentially powerful theory of convection, based on the mixing length picture, is developed to make unbiased self-consistent predictions about overshooting and other complicated phenomena in convection. The basic formalism is set up, and the methods power is demonstrated by showing that a simplified version of the theory reproduces all the standard results of local convection. The second-order equations of the theory are considered in the limit of a steady state and vanishing third moments, and it is shown that they reproduce all the standard results of local mixing-length convection. There is a particular value of the superadiabatic gradient, below which the only possible steady state of a fluid is nonconvecting. Above this critical value, a fluid is convectively unstable. Two distinct regimes of convection, which are identified as efficient and inefficient convection, are determined.

Convection, nucleosynthesis, and core collapse

We use a piecewise parabolic method hydrodynamics code (PROMETHEUS) to study convective burning in two dimensions in an oxygen shell prior to core collapse. Significant mixing beyond convective boundaries determined by mixing-length theory brings fuel (C-12) into the convective regon, causing hot spots of nuclear burning. Plumes dominate the velocity structure. Finite perturbations arise in a region in which O-16 will be explosively burned to Ni-56 when the star explodes; the resulting instabilities and mixing are likely to distribute Ni-56 throughout the supernova envelope. Inhomogeneities in Y(sub e) may be large enough to affect core collapse and will affect explosive nucleosynthesis. The nature of convective burning is dramatically different from that assumed in one-dimensional simulations; quantitative estimates of nucleosynthetic yields, core masses, and the approach to core collapse will be affected.

Three-dimensional blast-wave-driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability and the effects of long-wavelength modes

This paper describes experiments exploring the three-dimensional (3D) Rayleigh–Taylor instability at a blast-wave-driven interface. This experiment is well scaled to the He/H interface during the explosion phase of SN1987A. In the experiments,  ∼5 kJ of energy from the Omega laser was used to create a planar blast wave in a plastic disk, which is accelerated into a lower-density foam. These circumstances induce the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability and, after the shock passes the interface, the system quickly becomes dominated by the Rayleigh–Taylor instability. The plastic disk has an intentional pattern machined at the plastic/foam interface. This perturbation is 3D with a basic structure of two orthogonal sine waves with a wavelength of 71 μm and an amplitude of 2.5 μm. Additional long-wavelength modes with a wavelength of either 212 or 424 μm are added onto the single-mode pattern. The addition of the long-wavelength modes was motivated by the results of previous experiments where material penetrated unex...

Toward a consistent use of overshooting parametrizations in 1D stellar evolution codes

Several parametrizations for overshooting in 1D stellar evolution calculations coexist in the literature. These parametrizations are used somewhat arbitrarily in stellar evolution codes, based on what works best for a given problem, or even for historical reasons related to the development of each code. We bring attention to the fact that these different parametrizations correspond to different physical regimes of overshooting, depending whether the effects of radiation are dominant, marginal, or negligible. Our analysis is based on previously published theoretical results, as well as multidimensional hydrodynamical simulations of stellar convection where the interaction between the convective region and a stably-stratified region is observed. Although the underlying hydrodynamical processes are the same, the outcome of the overshooting process is profoundly affected by radiative effects. Using a simple picture of the scales involved in the overshooting process, we show how three regimes are obtained, depending on the importance of radiative effects. These three regimes correspond to the different behaviors observed in hydrodynamical simulations so far, and to the three types of parametrizations used in 1D codes. We suggest that the existing parametrizations for overshooting should coexist in 1D stellar evolution codes, and should be applied consistently at convective boundaries depending on the local physical conditions.

Thermonuclear runaways in nova outbursts. 2: Effect of strong, instantaneous, local fluctuations

In an attempt to understand the manner in which nova outbursts are initiated on the surface of a white dwarf, we investigate the effects fluctuations have on the evolution of a thermonuclear runaway. Fluctuations in temperature density, or the composition of material in the burning shell may arise due to the chaotic flow field generated by convection when it occurs, or by the accretion process itself. With the aid of two-dimensional reactive flow calculations, we consider cases where a strong fluctutation in temperature arises during the early, quiescent accretion phase or during the later, more dynamic, explosion phase. In all cases we find that an instantaneous, local temperature fluctuation causes the affected material to become Rayleigh-Taylor unstable. The rapid rise and subsequent expansion of matter immediately cools the hot blob, which prevents the lateral propagation of burning. This suggests that local temperature fluctuations do not play a significant role in directly initiating the runaway, especially during the early stages. However, they may provide an efficient mechanism of mixing core material into the envelope (thereby pre-enriching the fuel for subsequent episodes of explosive hydrogen burning) and of mixing substantial amounts of the radioactive nucleus N-13 into the surface layers, making novae potential gamma-ray sources. This suggests that it is the global not the local, evolution of the core-envelope interface to high temperatures which dominates the development of the runaway. We also present a possible new scenario for the initiation of nova outbursts based on our results.

Massive star evolution and SN 1987A

The evolution of massive stars through hydrogen and helium burning is addressed. A set of stellar evolutionary sequences for mass/solar mass of 15, 20, and 25, and metallicity of 0.002, 0.005, 0.007, 0.010, and 0.20 are presented; semiconvection is restricted to operating slower than the local thermal time scale. Using these sequences, simple models of the massive star content of the LMC are found to agree moderately well with the new observational data of Fitzpatrick and Garmany (1990). LMC supergiants were detected only in their postmain-sequence phases, so that 5-10 times more massive stars are there but not identified as such. It is argued that SN 1987A exhibits the normal evolution of a single star of about 20 solar mases having LMC abundances. Despite the variety of envelope behavior, the structure of the core at collapse is rather similar for the stars of a given mass. Variations due to different rates of mass loss are likely to be larger than those due to composition.

On the instability of deflagration fronts in white dwarfs

We discuss the stability of a deflagration front in white dwarfs in the context of burning mechanisms for Type Ia Supernovae. It is shown that the basic characteristics of the instability of the deflagration front are different from those of Rayleigh-Taylor instability, on which the deflagration models rely. In view of this, together with results from two-dimensional simulations, we argue that the deflagration model needs reconsideration, as Rayleigh-Taylor instability cannot explain the required high flame speed required for producing an explosion similar to Type Ia Supernovae. On the other hand, the same arguments imply that delayed detonation is acceptable and that the transition to detonation must occur in the very low density regime, where good agreement between observations and numerical results is obtained