PUSHing Core-collapse Supernovae to Explosions in Spherical Symmetry. IV. Explodability, Remnant Properties, and Nucleosynthesis Yields of Low-metallicity Stars*

Abstract

Abstract In this fourth paper of the series, we use the parameterized, spherically symmetric explosion method PUSH to perform a systematic study of two sets of nonrotating stellar progenitor models. Our study includes pre-explosion models with metallicities Z = 0 and Z = Z ⊙ × 10−4 and covers a progenitor mass range from 11 to 75 M ⊙. We present and discuss the explosion properties of all models and predict remnant (neutron star or black hole) mass distributions within this approach. We also perform systematic nucleosynthesis studies and predict detailed isotopic yields as a function of the progenitor mass and metallicity. We present a comparison of our nucleosynthesis results with observationally derived 56Ni ejecta from normal core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) and with iron-group abundances for metal-poor star HD 84937. Overall, our results for explosion energies, remnant mass distribution, 56Ni mass, and iron-group yields are consistent with observations of normal CCSNe. We find that stellar progenitors at low and zero metallicity are more prone to black hole formation than those at solar metallicity, which allows for the formation of black holes in the mass range observed by LIGO/VIRGO.