Luke Roberts

Electromagnetic Transients Powered by Nuclear Decay in the Tidal Tails of Coalescing Compact Binaries

We investigate the possibility that long tidal tails formed during compact object mergers may produce optical transients powered by the decay of freshly synthesized r-process material. Precise modeling of the merger dynamics allows for a realistic determination of the thermodynamic conditions in the ejected debris. We combine hydrodynamic and full nuclear network calculations to determine the resultant r-process abundances and the heating of the material by their decays. The subsequent homologous structure is mapped into a radiative transfer code to synthesize emergent model light curves and determine how their properties (variability and color evolution) depend on the mass ratio and orientation of the merging binary. The radiation emanating from the ejected debris, though less spectacular than a typical supernova, should be observable in transient surveys and we estimate the associated detection rates. We find that it is unlikely that photometry alone will be able to distinguish between different binary mass ratios and the nature of the compact objects, emphasizing the need for spectroscopic follow-up of these events. The case for (or against) compact object mergers as the progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts can be tested if such electromagnetic transients are detected (or not) in coincidence with some bursts, although they may be obscured by on-axis afterglows.

Integrated Nucleosynthesis in Neutrino Driven Winds

Although they are but a small fraction of the mass ejected in core-collapse supernovae, neutrino-driven winds (NDWs) from nascent proto-neutron stars (PNSs) have the potential to contribute significantly to supernova nucleosynthesis. In previous works, the NDW has been implicated as a possible source of r-process and light p-process isotopes. In this paper we present time-dependent hydrodynamic calculations of nucleosynthesis in the NDW which include accurate weak interaction physics coupled to a full nuclear reaction network. Using two published models of PNS neutrino luminosities, we predict the contribution of the NDW to the integrated nucleosynthetic yield of the entire supernova. For the neutrino luminosity histories considered, no true r-process occurs in the most basic scenario. The wind driven from an older 1.4M{sub {circle_dot}} model for a PNS is moderately neutron-rich at late times however, and produces {sup 87}Rb, {sup 88}Sr, {sup 89}Y, and {sup 90}Zr in near solar proportions relative to oxygen. The wind from a more recently studied 1.27M{sub {circle_dot}} PNS is proton-rich throughout its entire evolution and does not contribute significantly to the abundance of any element. It thus seems very unlikely that the simplest model of the NDW can produce the r-process. At most, it contributes to the production of the N = 50 closed shell elements and some light p-nuclei. In doing so, it may have left a distinctive signature on the abundances in metal poor stars, but the results are sensitive to both uncertain models for the explosion and the masses of the neutron stars involved.

A New Code for Proto-Neutron Star Evolution

A new code for following the evolution and emissions of proto-neutron stars during the first minute of their lives is developed and tested. The code is one dimensional, fully implicit, and general relativistic. Multi-group, multi-flavor neutrino transport is incorporated that makes use of variable Eddington factors obtained from a formal solution of the static general relativistic Boltzmann equation with linearized scattering terms. The timescales of neutrino emission and spectral evolution obtained using the new code are broadly consistent with previous results. Unlike other recent calculations, however, the new code predicts that the neutrino-driven wind will be characterized, at least for part of its existence, by a neutron excess. This change, potentially consequential for nucleosynthesis in the wind, is due to an improved treatment of the charged current interactions of electron-flavored neutrinos and anti-neutrinos with nucleons. A comparison is also made between the results obtained using either variable Eddington factors or simple equilibrium flux-limited diffusion. The latter approximation, which has been frequently used in previous studies of proto-neutron star cooling, accurately describes the total neutrino luminosities (to within 10%) for most of the evolution, until the proto-neutron star becomes optically thin.

The Progenitor Dependence of Core-collapse Supernovae from Three-dimensional Simulations with Progenitor Models of 12–40 M_⊙

We present a first study of the progenitor star dependence of the three-dimensional (3D) neutrino mechanism of core-collapse supernovae. We employ full 3D general-relativistic multi-group neutrino radiation-hydrodynamics and simulate the post-bounce evolutions of progenitors with zero-age main sequence masses of

Nucleosynthesis Now and Then

12

SkyNet: An open-source reaction network for r-process nucleosynthesis

,

Equation of state effects on core-collapse supernovae

15

Supernovae neutrino pasta interaction

,

Radioactive powered transients from compact object mergers

20

r-Process nucleosynthesis in neutron star merger disk outflows

,