Abstract
Early observations of supernovae (SNe) indicate that enhanced mass-loss and pre-SN outbursts may occur in progenitors of many types of SNe. We investigate the role of energy transport via ...waves driven by vigorous convection during late-stage nuclear burning of otherwise typical 15 M⊙ red supergiant SN progenitors. Using mesa stellar evolution models including 1D hydrodynamics, we find that waves carry ∼107 L⊙ of power from the core to the envelope during core neon/oxygen burning in the final years before core collapse. The waves damp via shocks and radiative diffusion at the base of the hydrogen envelope, which heats up fast enough to launch a pressure wave into the overlying envelope that steepens into a weak shock near the stellar surface, causing a mild stellar outburst and ejecting a small (≲1 M⊙) amount of mass at low speed (≲50 km s−1) roughly one year before the SN. The wave heating inflates the stellar envelope but does not completely unbind it, producing a non-hydrostatic pre-SN envelope density structure different from prior expectations. In our models, wave heating is unlikely to lead to luminous Type IIn SNe, but it may contribute to flash-ionized SNe and some of the diversity seen in II-P/II-L SNe.
Abstract
Heartbeat stars are eccentric binary stars in short-period orbits whose light curves are shaped by tidal distortion, reflection and Doppler beaming. Some heartbeat stars exhibit tidally ...excited oscillations and present new opportunities for understanding the physics of tidal dissipation within stars. We present detailed methods to compute the forced amplitudes, frequencies and phases of tidally excited oscillations in eccentric binary systems. Our methods (i) factor out the equilibrium tide for easier comparison with observations, (ii) account for rotation using the traditional approximation, (iii) incorporate non-adiabatic effects to reliably compute surface luminosity perturbations, (iv) allow for spin–orbit misalignment and (v) correctly sum over contributions from many oscillation modes. We also discuss why tidally excited oscillations (TEOs) are more visible in hot stars with surface temperatures T ≳ 6500 K, and we derive some basic probability theory that can be used to compare models with data in a statistical manner. Application of this theory to heartbeat systems can be used to determine whether observed TEOs can be explained by chance resonances with stellar oscillation modes, or whether a resonance locking process is operating.
The age of gravitational-wave astronomy has begun, and black hole (BH) mergers detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) are providing novel constraints on massive ...star evolution. A major uncertainty in stellar theory is the angular momentum (AM) transport within the star that determines its core rotation rate and the resulting BH's spin. Internal rotation rates of low-mass stars measured from asteroseismology prove that AM transport is efficient, suggesting that massive stellar cores may rotate slower than prior expectations. We investigate AM transport via the magnetic Tayler instability, which can largely explain the rotation rates of low-mass stars and white dwarfs. Implementing an updated AM transport prescription into models of high-mass stars, we compute the spins of their BH remnants. We predict that BHs born from single stars rotate very slowly, with a ∼ 10−2, regardless of initial rotation rate, possibly explaining the low χeff of most BH binaries detected by LIGO thus far. A limited set of binary models suggests slow rotation for many binary scenarios as well, although homogeneous evolution and tidal spin-up of post-common-envelope helium stars can create moderate or high BH spins. We make predictions for the values of χeff in future LIGO events, and we discuss implications for engine-powered transients.
Abstract
Many core-collapse supernova (SN) progenitors show indications of enhanced pre-SN mass loss and outbursts, some of which could be powered by wave energy transport within the progenitor star. ...Depending on the star’s structure, convectively excited waves driven by late-stage nuclear burning can carry substantial energy from the core to the envelope, where the wave energy is dissipated as heat. We examine the process of wave energy transport in single-star SNe progenitors with masses between 11 and 50
M
⊙
. Using MESA stellar evolution simulations, we evolve stars until core collapse and calculate the wave power produced and transmitted to the stars’ envelopes. These models improve upon prior efforts by incorporating a more realistic wave spectrum and nonlinear damping effects, reducing our wave-heating estimates by ∼1 order of magnitude compared to prior work. We find that waves excited during oxygen/neon burning typically transmit ∼10
46
–10
47
erg of energy at 0.1–10 yr before core collapse in typical (
M
< 30
M
⊙
) SN progenitors. High-mass progenitors can often transmit ∼10
47
–10
48
erg of energy during oxygen/neon burning, but this tends to occur later, at about 0.01–0.1 yr before core collapse. Pre-SN outbursts may be most pronounced in low-mass SN progenitors (
M
≲ 12
M
⊙
) undergoing semidegenerate neon ignition and in high-mass progenitors (
M
≳ 30
M
⊙
) exhibiting convective shell mergers.
Abstract
The internal rotational dynamics of massive stars are poorly understood. If angular momentum (AM) transport between the core and the envelope is inefficient, the large core AM upon ...core-collapse will produce rapidly rotating neutron stars (NSs). However, observations of low-mass stars suggest an efficient AM transport mechanism is at work, which could drastically reduce NS spin rates. Here, we study the effects of the baroclinic instability and the magnetic Tayler instability in differentially rotating radiative zones. Although the baroclinic instability may occur, the Tayler instability is likely to be more effective for AM transport. We implement Tayler torques as prescribed by Fuller, Piro, and Jermyn into models of massive stars, finding they remove the vast majority of the core’s AM as it contracts between the main-sequence and helium-burning phases of evolution. If core AM is conserved during core-collapse, we predict natal NS rotation periods of $P_{\rm NS} \approx 50\!-\!200 \, {\rm ms}$, suggesting these torques help explain the relatively slow rotation rates of most young NSs, and the rarity of rapidly rotating engine-driven supernovae. Stochastic spin-up via waves just before core-collapse, asymmetric explosions, and various binary evolution scenarios may increase the initial rotation rates of many NSs.
ABSTRACT
A gas giant planet which survives the giant branch stages of evolution at a distance of many au and then is subsequently perturbed sufficiently close to a white dwarf will experience orbital ...shrinkage and circularization due to star–planet tides. The circularization time-scale, when combined with a known white dwarf cooling age, can place coupled constraints on the scattering epoch as well as the active tidal mechanisms. Here, we explore this coupling across the entire plausible parameter phase space by computing orbit shrinkage and potential self-disruption due to chaotic f-mode excitation and heating in planets on orbits with eccentricities near unity, followed by weakly dissipative equilibrium tides. We find that chaotic f-mode evolution activates only for orbital pericentres which are within twice the white dwarf Roche radius, and easily restructures or destroys ice giants but not gas giants. This type of internal thermal destruction provides an additional potential source of white dwarf metal pollution. Subsequent tidal evolution for the surviving planets is dominated by non-chaotic equilibrium and dynamical tides which may be well-constrained by observations of giant planets around white dwarfs at early cooling ages.
Slowing the spins of stellar cores Fuller, Jim; Piro, Anthony L; Jermyn, Adam S
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
05/2019, Volume:
485, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
ABSTRACT
The angular momentum (AM) evolution of stellar interiors, along with the resulting rotation rates of stellar remnants, remains poorly understood. Asteroseismic measurements of red giant ...stars reveal that their cores rotate much faster than their surfaces, but much slower than theoretically predicted, indicating an unidentified source of AM transport operates in their radiative cores. Motivated by this, we investigate the magnetic Tayler instability and argue that it saturates when turbulent dissipation of the perturbed magnetic field energy is equal to magnetic energy generation via winding. This leads to larger magnetic field amplitudes, more efficient AM transport, and smaller shears than predicted by the classic Tayler–Spruit dynamo. We provide prescriptions for the effective AM diffusivity and incorporate them into numerical stellar models, finding they largely reproduce (1) the nearly rigid rotation of the Sun and main sequence stars, (2) the core rotation rates of low-mass red giants during hydrogen shell and helium burning, and (3) the rotation rates of white dwarfs. We discuss implications for stellar rotational evolution, internal rotation profiles, rotational mixing, and the spins of compact objects.
ABSTRACT
Robust evidence of an ice giant planet shedding its atmosphere around the white dwarf WD J0914+1914 represents a milestone in exoplanetary science, allowing us to finally supplement our ...knowledge of white dwarf metal pollution, debris discs, and minor planets with the presence of a major planet. Here, we discuss the possible dynamical origins of this planet, WD J0914+1914 b. The very young cooling age of the host white dwarf (13 Myr) combined with the currently estimated planet–star separation of about 0.07 au imposes particularly intriguing and restrictive coupled constraints on its current orbit and its tidal dissipation characteristics. The planet must have been scattered from a distance of at least a few au to its current location, requiring the current or former presence of at least one more major planet in the system in the absence of a hidden binary companion. We show that WD J0914+1914 b could not have subsequently shrunk its orbit through chaotic f-mode tidal excitation (characteristic of such highly eccentric orbits) unless the planet was or is highly inflated and possibly had partially thermally self-disrupted from mode-based energy release. We also demonstrate that if the planet is currently assumed to reside on a near-circular orbit at 0.07 au, then non-chaotic equilibrium tides impose unrealistic values for the planet’s tidal quality factor. We conclude that WD J0914+1914 b either (i) actually resides interior to 0.07 au, (ii) resembles a disrupted ‘Super-Puff’ whose remains reside on a circular orbit, or (iii) resembles a larger or denser ice giant on a currently eccentric orbit. Distinguishing these three possibilities strongly motivates follow-up observations.
Abstract Double white dwarf (WD) binaries are increasingly being discovered at short orbital periods where strong tidal effects and significant tidal heating signatures may occur. We assume that the ...tidal potential of the companion excites outgoing gravity waves within the WD primary, the dissipation of which leads to an increase in the WD’s surface temperature. We compute the excitation and dissipation of the waves in cooling WD models in evolving MESA binary simulations. Tidal heating is self-consistently computed and added to the models at every time step. As a binary inspirals to orbital periods less than ∼20 minutes, the WD’s behavior changes from cooling to heating, with temperature enhancements that can exceed 10,000 K compared with nontidally heated models. We compare a grid of tidally heated WD models to observed short-period systems with hot WD primaries. While tidal heating affects their T eff , it is likely not the dominant luminosity. Instead, these WDs are probably intrinsically young and hot, implying that the binaries formed at short orbital periods. The binaries are consistent with undergoing common envelope evolution with a somewhat low efficiency α CE . We delineate the parameter space where the traveling wave assumption is most valid, noting that it breaks down for WDs that cool sufficiently, where standing waves may instead be formed.
Recent asteroseismic advances have allowed for direct measurements of the internal rotation rates of many subgiant and red giant stars. Unlike the nearly rigidly rotating Sun, these evolved stars ...contain radiative cores that spin faster than their overlying convective envelopes, but slower than they would in the absence of internal angular momentum transport. We investigate the role of internal gravity waves in angular momentum transport in evolving low-mass stars. In agreement with previous results, we find that convectively excited gravity waves can prevent the development of strong differential rotation in the radiative cores of Sun-like stars. As stars evolve into subgiants, however, low-frequency gravity waves become strongly attenuated and cannot propagate below the hydrogen-burning shell, allowing the spin of the core to decouple from the convective envelope. This decoupling occurs at the base of the subgiant branch when stars have surface temperatures of T approximately 5500 K. However, gravity waves can still spin down the upper radiative region, implying that the observed differential rotation is likely confined to the deep core near the hydrogen-burning shell. The torque on the upper radiative region may also prevent the core from accreting high angular momentum material and slow the rate of core spin-up. The observed spin-down of cores on the red giant branch cannot be totally attributed to gravity waves, but the waves may enhance shear within the radiative region and thus increase the efficacy of viscous/magnetic torques.
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