Wuming Yang

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF INTERACTIVE BINARY STARS TO DOUBLE MAIN-SEQUENCE TURNOFFS AND DUAL RED CLUMP OF INTERMEDIATE-AGE STAR CLUSTERS

Double or extended main-sequence turnoffs (DMSTOs) and dual red clump (RC) were observed in intermediate-age clusters, such as in NGC 1846 and 419. The DMSTOs are interpreted as that the cluster has two distinct stellar populations with differences in age of about 200-300 Myr but with the same metallicity. The dual RC is interpreted as a result of a prolonged star formation. Using a stellar population-synthesis method, we calculated the evolution of a binary-star stellar population. We found that binary interactions and merging can reproduce the dual RC in the color-magnitude diagrams of an intermediate-age cluster, whereas in actuality only a single population exists. Moreover, the binary interactions can lead to an extended main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) rather than DMSTOs. However, the rest of the main sequence, subgiant branch, and first giant branch are hardly spread by the binary interactions. Part of the observed dual RC and extended MSTO may be the results of binary interactions and mergers.

The birth rate of subluminous and overluminous type Ia supernovae

Context. Based on the single degenerate (SD) scenario, a super-Chandrasekhar mass model derived from the rapid rotation of a progenitor star may account for the overluminous type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) like SN 2003fg. Previous authors calculated a series of binary evolution and showed the parameter spaces for the super-Chandrasekhar mass model. Another team developed an equal-mass double degenerate (DD) model to explain subluminous SNe Ia like SN 1991bg. But they did not show the evolution of the birth rate of these peculiar SNe Ia or compared them with absolute birth rates from observations. Aims. We aim to show the evolution of the birth rates of these peculiar SNe Ia based on the results of these other works, and compare the birth rates with observations to check whether these model may account for all the peculiar SNe Ia. Methods. We carried out a series of binary population synthesis calculations and considered two methods of common envelope (CE) evolution, i.e. α-formalism and γ-algorithm. Results. We found that the evolution of the birth rate of these peculiar SNe Ia heavily dependen on how the CE evolution is treated. The overluminous SNe Ia may only occur for α-formalism with low CE ejection efficiency, and the delay time of the SNe Ia is between 0.4 and 0.8 Gyr. The upper limit of the contribution rate of the supernovae to all SN Ia is less than 0.3%. The delay time of subluminous SNe Ia from equal-mass DD systems is between 0.1 and 0.3 Gyr for α-formalism with α = 3.0, but longer than 9 Gyr for α = 1.0. The range of the delay time for γ-algorithm is very wide, i.e. longer than 0.22 Gyr, even as long as 15 Gyr. The subluminous SNe Ia from equal-mass DD systems may only account for no more than 1% of all SNe Ia observed. Conclusions. The super-Chandrasekhar mass model may account for a part of the 2003fg-like supernovae and the equal-mass DD model may explain some 1991bg-like events, too. In addition, based on the comparison between theories and observations, including the birth rate and delay time of the 1991bg-like events, we found that the γ-algorithm is more likely to be an appropriate prescription of the CE evolution of DD systems than the α-formalism if the equal-mass DD system is the progenitor of 1991bg-like SNe Ia.

Solar Models with Revised Abundance

We present new solar models in which we use the latest low abundances and further include the effects of rotation, magnetic fields, and extra-mixing processes. We assume that the extra-element mixing can be treated as a diffusion process, with the diffusion coefficient depending mainly on the solar internal configuration of rotation and magnetic fields. We find that such models can well reproduce the observed solar rotation profile in the radiative region. Furthermore, the proposed models can match the seismic constraints better than the standard solar models, also when these include the latest abundances, but neglect the effects of rotation and magnetic fields.

Companion stars of Type Ia supernovae with different metallicities

The single-degenerate model is the most widely accepted progenitor model of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), where a carbon-oxygen white dwarf (CO WD) accretes hydrogen-rich material from its companion to increase its mass. The companion may be a main-sequence (MS) star or a subgiant star (WD + MS). When the CO WD approaches the Chandrasekhar mass limit, it explodes as a SN Ia and part of the supernova ejecta collides into the companion envelope. After the impact of the ejecta, the companion survives and may show some special properties. A good way to verify the single-degenerate model is to study the interaction between the supernova ejecta and the companion, and/or search for the companion in the remnant of a SN Ia. Following previous studies, we have carried out a series of binary population synthesis studies exploring the properties of the companions of SNe Ia for different metallicities Z. We present the distributions of the masses M SN 2 , radii R SN 2 of the companions, periods P SN and ratios of separations to radii A/R SN 2 of WD + MS systems for various Z at the moment of supernova explosion. These parameters can be applied to constrain the numerical simulation of the interaction between the ejecta of a supernova and its companion. We also show the distributions of some integral properties of the companions, i.e. the mass, the space velocity and the surface gravity, for various Z after the interaction. The distributions may help us to search for the companion in a supernova remnant. All the parameters above change significantly with Z. Incorporating the simulation results of the interaction between supernova ejecta and companions from other works into our binary population synthesis study, we found that more than 75 per cent of all supernovae have a strong enough polarization signal to be detected by spectropolarimetric observations. We also found that 13-14 per cent of SNe Ia belong to the class of supernovae like 1991T, which is consistent with observations within the errors. This may indicate that 1991 T-like SNe do not have any special physical properties except for the viewing angle of the observer.

The birth rate of supernovae from double-degenerate and core-degenerate systems

Context. Some recent observations of the delay-time distribution (DTD) of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) seem to uphold the double-degenerate (DD) scenario as the progenitor model of SNe Ia, but the core-degenerate (CD) scenario remains a strong competitor to the DD one. Aims. We investigate the effects of metallicity and the different treatments of common envelope (CE) on the DTD of SNe Ia by considering the DD and CD scenarios, and check the suggestion that the total mass of DD system is the main dependent variable of Phillips relation. Methods. We perform a series of Monte Carlo simulations based on a rapid binary evolution code and consider two treatments of CE evolution, i.e. alpha-formalism and gamma-algorithm. Results. We find that only when the alpha-formalism is considered with a high CE ejection efficiency, may the shape of the DTD for DD systems be consistent with that derived observationally, i.e. a power law of similar to t(-1), while the value of the birth rate of SNe Ia marginally matches observations. For the alpha-formalism with a low CE ejection efficiency and the gamma-algorithm, neither the shape of the DTD nor the value of the birth rate can be compared with those of the observations. Metallicity may not have a significant influence on the shape of DTD, but a lower metallicity may lead to a slightly higher birth rate of SNe Ia by a factor of 2, especially for SNe Ia with long delay times. If the results for the single-degenerate (SD) channel are incorporated into those for the DTD, both the shape of DTD and its value may be closely consistent with observations for SNe Ia younger than 2.5 Gyr, and SD and DD channels provide comparable contributions to the total SNe Ia, while for SNe Ia with delay times longer than 2.5 Gyr, DD is the dominant channel and the birth rate is lower than that derived from observations by a factor up to about four. In addition, we calculate the evolutions of various integral parameters of DD systems, and do not find any one suitable to explain the correlation between the brightness of SNe Ia and its delay time. Moreover, there are three channels producing CD systems that may contribute a few SNe Ia, but the contribution of CD systems to the total SNe Ia is no more than 1%. Conclusions. There may be other channels or mechanisms contributing to SNe Ia with long delay times.

Binary population synthesis study of the supersoft X-ray phase of single degenerate type Ia supernova progenitors

In the single degenerate (SD) scenario for type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), a mass-accreting white dwarf is expected to experience a supersoft X-ray source (SSS) phase. However, some recent observations showed that the expected number of mass-accreting WDs is much lower than that predicted from theory, regardless of whether they are in spiral or elliptical galaxies. In this paper, we performed a binary population synthesis study on the relative duration of the SSS phase to their whole mass-increasing phase of WDs leading to SNe Ia. We found that for about 40% of the progenitor systems, the relative duration is shorter than 2% and the evolution of the mean relative duration shows that it is always smaller than 5%, both for young and old SNe Ia. In addition, before the SNe Ia explosions, more than 55% of the progenitor systems were experiencing a dwarf novae phase and no more than 10% were staying in the SSS phase. These results are consistent with the recent observations and imply that both in early- and late-type galaxies, only a small fraction of mass-accreting WDs resulting in SNe Ia contributes to the supersoft X-ray flux. So, although our results are not directly related to the X-ray output of the SN Ia progenitor, the low supersoft X-ray luminosity observed in early type galaxies may not be able to exclude the validity of the SD model. On the contrary, it is evidence to support the SD scenario.

ASTEROSEISMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CoRoT TARGET HD 49933

The satellite CoRoT (Convection, Rotation, and planetary Transits) has provided high-quality data for almost six years. We show here the asteroseismic analysis and modeling of HD169392A, which belongs to a binary system weakly gravitationally bound as the distance between the two components is of 4250 AU. The main component, HD169392A, is a G0IV star with a magnitude of 7.50 while the second component is a G0V-G2IV star with a magnitude of 8.98. This analysis focuses on the main component, as the secondary one is too faint to measure any seismic parameters. A complete modeling has been possible thanks to the complementary spectroscopic observations from HARPS, providing Teff=5985+/-60K, log g=3.96+/-0.07, and [Fe/H]=- 0.04+/-0.10.

The envelope mass of red giant donors in type Ia supernova progenitors

We compute the remaining amounts of hydrogen in red giant donors to see whether the conflict between theory and observations can be overcome. By considering the mass-stripping effect from an optically thick wind and the effect of thermally unstable disk, we systematically carried out binary evolution calculation for WD + MS and WD + RG systems. Here, we focus on the evolution of WD + RG systems. We found that some donor stars at the time of the supernova explosion contain little hydrogen-rich material on top of the helium core (as low as 0.017

Asteroseismic analysis of Kepler target KIC 2837475

M_{\odot}

The correlation between C/O ratio, metallicity and the initial WD mass for SNe Ia

), which is smaller than the upper limit to the amount derived from observations of material stripped-off by explosion ejecta. Thus, no hydrogen line is expected in the nebular spectra of these SN Ia. We also derive the distributions of the envelope mass and the core mass of the companions from WD + RG channel at the moment of a supernova explosion by adopting a binary population synthesis approach. We rarely find a RG companion with a very low-mass envelope. Furthermore, our models imply that the remnant of the WD + RG channel emerging after the supernova explosion is a single low-mass white dwarf (0.15