Detailed microscopic calculation of stellar electron and positron capture rates on 24Mg for O+Ne+Mg core simulations

Abstract

A few white dwarfs, located in binary systems, may acquire sufficiently high mass-accretion rates resulting in the burning of carbon and oxygen under nondegenerate conditions forming an O+Ne+Mg core. These O+Ne+Mg cores are gravitationally less bound than more massive progenitor stars and can release more energy due to the nuclear burning. They are also amongst the probable candidates for low entropy r-process sites. Recent observations of subluminous Type II-P supernovae (e.g. 2005cs, 2003gd, 1999br and 1997D) were able to rekindle the interest in 8–10 M⊙ which develop O+Ne+Mg cores. Microscopic calculations of capture rates on 24Mg, which may contribute significantly to the collapse of O+Ne+Mg cores, using the shell model and the proton–neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pn-QRPA) theory, were performed earlier and comparisons made. Simulators, however, may require these capture rates on a fine scale. For the first time, a detailed microscopic calculation of the electron and positron capture rates on 24Mg on an extensive temperature–density scale is presented here. This type of scale is more appropriate for interpolation purposes and of greater utility for simulation codes. The calculations are done using the pn-QRPA theory using a separable interaction. The deformation parameter, believed to be a key parameter in QRPA calculations, is adopted from experimental data to increase the reliability of the QRPA results further. The resulting calculated rates are up to a factor of 14 or more enhanced as compared to shell model rates and may lead to some interesting scenarios for core collapse simulators.