Nova explosions occur on the white dwarf component of a cataclysmic variable binary stellar system that is accreting matter lost by its companion. When sufficient material has been accreted by the ...white dwarf, a thermonuclear runaway occurs and ejects material in what is observed as a classical nova explosion. We describe both the recent advances in our understanding of the progress of the outburst and outline some of the puzzles that are still outstanding. We report on the effects of improving both the nuclear reaction rate library and including a modern nuclear reaction network in our one-dimensional, fully implicit, hydrodynamic computer code. In addition, there has been progress in observational studies of supernovae Ia with implications about the progenitors, and we discuss that in this review.
X-ray observations of transiently accreting neutron stars during quiescence provide information about the structure of neutron star crusts and the properties of dense matter. Interpretation of the ...observational data requires an understanding of the nuclear reactions that heat and cool the crust during accretion and define its nonequilibrium composition. We identify here in detail the typical nuclear reaction sequences down to a depth in the inner crust where the mass density is using a full nuclear reaction network for a range of initial compositions. The reaction sequences differ substantially from previous work. We find a robust reduction of crust impurity at the transition to the inner crust regardless of initial composition, though shell effects can delay the formation of a pure crust somewhat to densities beyond . This naturally explains the small inner crust impurity inferred from observations of a broad range of systems. The exception are initial compositions with A ≥ 102 nuclei, where the inner crust remains impure with an impurity parameter of Qimp 20 owing to the N = 82 shell closure. In agreement with previous work, we find that nuclear heating is relatively robust and independent of initial composition, while cooling via nuclear Urca cycles in the outer crust depends strongly on initial composition. This work forms a basis for future studies of the sensitivity of crust models to nuclear physics and provides profiles of composition for realistic crust models.
We present a numerical investigation of the tidal disruption of white dwarfs by moderately massive black holes, with particular reference to the centers of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters. ...Special attention is given to the fate of white dwarfs of all masses that approach the black hole close enough to be disrupted and severely compressed to such an extent that explosive nuclear burning can be triggered. Consistent modeling of the gas dynamics together with the nuclear reactions allows for a realistic determination of the explosive energy release. In the most favorable cases, the nuclear energy release may be comparable to that of typical Type Ia supernovae. Although the explosion will increase the mass fraction escaping on hyperbolic orbits, a good fraction of the debris remains to be swallowed by the hole, causing a bright soft X-ray flare lasting for about a year. Such transient signatures, if detected, would be a compelling testimony for the presence of a moderately massive black hole (below 105 M ).
We consider hot accretion disk outflows from black hole-neutron star mergers in the context of the nucleosynthesis they produce. We begin with a three-dimensional numerical model of a black ...hole-neutron star merger and calculate the neutrino and antineutrino fluxes emitted from the resulting accretion disk. We then follow the element synthesis in material outflowing the disk along parameterized trajectories. We find that at least a weak r-process is produced, and in some cases a main r-process as well. The neutron-rich conditions required for this production of r-process nuclei stem directly from the interactions of the neutrinos emitted by the disk with the free neutrons and protons in the outflow.
Abstract
The observation of X-rays during quiescence from transiently accreting neutron stars provides unique clues about the nature of dense matter. This, however, requires extensive modeling of the ...crusts and matching the results to observations. The pycnonuclear fusion reaction rates implemented in these models are theoretically calculated by extending phenomenological expressions and have large uncertainties spanning many orders of magnitude. We present the first sensitivity studies of these pycnonuclear fusion reactions in realistic network calculations. We also couple the reaction network with the thermal evolution code
dStar
to further study their impact on the neutron star cooling curves in quiescence. Varying the pycnonuclear fusion reaction rates alters the depth at which nuclear heat is deposited although the total heating remains constant. The enhancement of the pycnonuclear fusion reaction rates leads to an overall shallower deposition of nuclear heat. The impurity factors are also altered depending on the type of ashes deposited on the crust. These total changes correspond to a variation of up to 9 eV in the modeled cooling curves. While this is not sufficient to explain the shallow heat source, it is comparable to the observational uncertainties and can still be important for modeling the neutron star crust.
We examine the nucleosynthesis products that are produced in the outflow from rapidly accreting disks. We find that the type of element synthesis varies dramatically with the degree of neutrino ...trapping in the disk and therefore the accretion rate of the disk. Disks with relatively high accretion rates such as M = 10 M sub(z) s super(-1) can produce very neutron-rich nuclei that are found in the r-process. Disks with more moderate accretion rates can produce copious amounts of nickel, as well as the light elements such as lithium and boron. Disks with lower accretion rates such as M = 1 M sub(z) s super(-1) produce large amounts of nickel, as well as some unusual nuclei such as super(49)Ti, super(45)Sc, super(64)Zn, and super(92)Mo. This wide array of potential nucleosynthesis products is due to the varying influence of electron neutrinos and antineutrinos emitted from the disk on the neutron-to-proton ratio in the outflow. We use a parameterization for the outflow and discuss our results in terms of entropy and outflow acceleration.
With currently known input physics and computer simulations in one dimension, a self-consistent treatment of core-collapse supernovae does not yet lead to successful explosions, while two-dimensional ...models show some promise. Thus, there are strong indications that the delayed neutrino mechanism works combined with a multidimensional convection treatment for unstable layers (possibly with the aid of rotation, magnetic fields and/or still existent uncertainties in neutrino opacities). On the other hand, there is a need to provide correct nucleosynthesis abundances for the progressing field of galactic evolution and observations of low-metallicity stars. The innermost ejecta is directly affected by the explosion mechanism, i.e., most strongly, the yields of Fe group nuclei for which an induced piston or thermal bomb treatment will not provide the correct yields because the effect of neutrino interactions is not included. We apply parameterized variations to the neutrino-scattering cross sections in order to mimic in one dimension the possible increase of neutrino luminosities caused by uncertainties in proto-neutron star convection. Alternatively, parameterized variations are applied to the neutrino absorption cross sections on nucleons in the "gain region" to mimic the increase in neutrino energy deposition enabled by convective turnover. We find that both measures lead to similar results, causing explosions and a Y sub(e) > 0.5 in the innermost ejected layers, due to the combined effect of a short weak-interaction timescale and a negligible electron degeneracy, unveiling the proton-neutron mass difference. We include all weak interactions (electron and positron capture, b-decay, neutrino and antineutrino capture on nuclei, and neutrino and antineutrino capture on nucleons) and present first nucleosynthesis results for these innermost ejected layers to discuss how they improve predictions for Fe group nuclei. The proton-rich environment results in enhanced abundances of super(45)Sc, super(49)Ti, and super(64)Zn as required by chemical evolution studies and observations of low-metallicity stars, as well as appreciable production of nuclei in the mass range up to A = 80.
We present a new nucleosynthesis process that we denote as the nu p process, which occurs in supernovae (and possibly gamma-ray bursts) when strong neutrino fluxes create proton-rich ejecta. In this ...process, antineutrino absorptions in the proton-rich environment produce neutrons that are immediately captured by neutron-deficient nuclei. This allows for the nucleosynthesis of nuclei with mass numbers A>64, , making this process a possible candidate to explain the origin of the solar abundances of (92,94)Mo and (96,98)Ru. This process also offers a natural explanation for the large abundance of Sr seen in a hyper-metal-poor star.
The temperature in the crust of an accreting neutron star, which comprises its outermost kilometre, is set by heating from nuclear reactions at large densities, neutrino cooling and heat transport ...from the interior. The heated crust has been thought to affect observable phenomena at shallower depths, such as thermonuclear bursts in the accreted envelope. Here we report that cycles of electron capture and its inverse, β(-) decay, involving neutron-rich nuclei at a typical depth of about 150 metres, cool the outer neutron star crust by emitting neutrinos while also thermally decoupling the surface layers from the deeper crust. This 'Urca' mechanism has been studied in the context of white dwarfs and type Ia supernovae, but hitherto was not considered in neutron stars, because previous models computed the crust reactions using a zero-temperature approximation and assumed that only a single nuclear species was present at any given depth. The thermal decoupling means that X-ray bursts and other surface phenomena are largely independent of the strength of deep crustal heating. The unexpectedly short recurrence times, of the order of years, observed for very energetic thermonuclear superbursts are therefore not an indicator of a hot crust, but may point instead to an unknown local heating mechanism near the neutron star surface.
Nova explosions occur on the white dwarf (WD) component of a cataclysmic variable binary stellar system which is accreting matter lost by its companion. When sufficient material has been accreted by ...the WD, a thermonuclear runaway (TNR) occurs and ejects material in what is observed as a classical nova (CN) explosion. We have continued our studies of TNRs on 1.25 M and 1.35 M WDs (ONeMg composition) under conditions which produce mass ejection and a rapid increase in the emitted light, by examining the effects of changes in the nuclear reaction rates on both the observable features and the nucleosynthesis during the outburst. In order to improve our calculations over previous work, we have incorporated a modern nuclear reaction network into our one-dimensional, fully implicit, hydrodynamic computer code. We find that the updates in the nuclear reaction rate libraries change the amount of ejected mass, peak luminosity, and the resulting nucleosynthesis. Because the evolutionary sequences on the 1.35 M WD reach higher temperatures, the effects of library changes are more important for this mass. In addition, as a result of our improvements, we discovered that the pep reaction (p + e - + p -> d + Delta ) was not included in our previous studies of CN explosions (or to the best of our knowledge those of other investigators). Although the energy production from this reaction is not important in the Sun, the densities in WD envelopes can exceed 104 g cm-3 and the presence of this reaction increases the energy generation during the time that the p-p chain is operating. Since it is only the p-p chain that is operating during most of the accretion phase prior to the final rise to the TNR, the effect of the increased energy generation is to reduce the evolution time to the peak of the TNR and, thereby, the accreted mass as compared to the evolutionary sequences done without this reaction included. As expected from our previous work, the reduction in accreted mass has important consequences on the characteristics of the resulting TNR and is discussed in this paper.
PDF
