The Final Fate of Stars that Ignite Neon and Oxygen Off-center: Electron Capture or Iron Core-collapse Supernova?


Samuel Jones(1), Raphael Hirschi(2,3), Ken'ichi Nomoto(3)

(1) University of Victoria
(2) Keele University
(3) Kavli IPMU (WPI)

In the ONeMg cores of 8.8-9.5 M ☉ stars, neon and oxygen burning is ignited off-center. Whether or not the neon-oxygen flame propagates to the center is critical for determining whether these stars undergo Fe core collapse or electron-capture-induced ONeMg core collapse. We present more details of stars that ignite neon and oxygen burning off-center. The neon flame is established in a manner similar to the carbon flame of super-AGB stars, albeit with a narrower flame width. The criteria for establishing a flame can be met if the strict Schwarzschild criterion for convective instability is adopted. Mixing across the interface of the convective shell disrupts the conditions for the propagation of the burning front, and instead the shell burns as a series of inward-moving flashes. While this may not directly affect whether or not the burning will reach the center (as in super-AGB stars), the core is allowed to contract between each shell flash. Reduction of the electron fraction in the shell reduces the Chandrasekhar mass and the center reaches the threshold density for the URCA process to activate and steer the remaining evolution of the core. This highlights the importance of a more accurate treatment of mixing in the stellar interior for yet another important question in stellar astrophysics---determining the properties of stellar evolution and supernova progenitors at the boundary between electron capture supernova and iron core-collapse supernova.

Reference: ApJ 797 83
Status: Manuscript has been accepted

Weblink: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...797...83J

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Email: swjones@uvic.ca