Supernova Dynamics Research Articles

Observing black hole mergers beyond the pair-instability mass gap with next-generation gravitational wave detectors

Stellar evolution predicts the existence of a mass gap for black hole remnants produced by pair-instability supernova dynamics, whose lower and upper edges are very uncertain. We study the possibility of constraining the location of the upper end of the pair-instability mass gap, which is believed to appear around mmin∼130M⊙, using gravitational wave observations of compact binary mergers with next-generation ground-based detectors. While high metallicity may not allow for the formation of first-generation black holes on the “far side” beyond the gap, metal-poor environments containing population III stars could lead to such heavy black hole mergers. We show that, even in the presence of contamination from other merger channels, next-generation detectors will measure the location of the upper end of the mass gap with a relative precision close to Δmmin/mmin≃4%(Ndet/100)−1/2 at 90% CL, where Ndet is the number of detected mergers with both members beyond the gap. These future observations could reduce current uncertainties in nuclear and astrophysical processes controlling the location of the gap. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Standing accretion shock instability in the collapse of a rotating stellar core

Hydrodynamical instabilities, such as the standing accretion shock instability (SASI), play an essential role in the dynamics of core-collapse supernovae, with observable imprints in the neutrino and gravitational wave signals. Yet, the impact of stellar rotation on the development of SASI is poorly explored. We investigate the conditions favoring the growth of SASI in the presence of rotation through a perturbative analysis. The properties of SASI are compared in two stationary configurations, cylindrical and spherical equatorial, which mainly differ by their advection timescales from the shock to the proto-neutron star surface. Without rotation, the mode $m=1$, corresponding to a one-armed spiral SASI deformation, can be significantly more unstable in the spherical equatorial configuration. In fact, the shorter advection time in the spherical equatorial geometry allows for a larger contribution of the entropic-acoustic coupling from the region of adiabatic compression near the surface of the proto-neutron star. The angular momentum of the collapsing core favors the growth of prograde spiral modes $m=1$ and $m=2$ in both geometries. Although the growth rate of the spiral instability is systematically faster in spherical geometry, its oscillation frequency is remarkably insensitive to the geometry. Such a contrast with nonrotating flows calls for a deeper understanding of the role of advection in the mechanism of spiral SASI. Our findings suggest that the resonant coupling of acoustic waves with their corotation radius may play a major role in the instability mechanism of collapsing cores with rotation. Elucidating this physical mechanism is essential to interpret the signal from future multimessenger supernova observations.

First inverse kinematics measurement of resonances inBe7(α,γ)C11relevant to neutrino-driven wind nucleosynthesis using DRAGON

A possible mechanism to explain the origin of the light $p$ nuclei in the Galaxy is the nucleosynthesis in the proton-rich neutrino-driven wind ejecta of core-collapse supernovas via the $\ensuremath{\nu}p$ process. However, this production scenario is very sensitive to the underlying supernova dynamics and the nuclear physics input. As far as the nuclear uncertainties are concerned, the breakout from the $pp$ chains via the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}(\ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\gamma})^{11}\mathrm{C}$ reaction has been identified as an important link which can influence the nuclear flow and, therefore, the efficiency of the $\ensuremath{\nu}p$ process. However, its reaction rate is poorly known over the relevant temperature range, $T$ = 1.5--3 GK. We report on the first direct measurement of two resonances of the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}(\ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\gamma})^{11}\mathrm{C}$ reaction with previously unknown strengths using an intense radioactive $^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ beam from the Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC-I) Center facility and the DRAGON recoil separator in inverse kinematics. We have decreased the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}(\ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\gamma})^{11}\mathrm{C}$ reaction rate uncertainty to $\ensuremath{\approx}9.4\text{--}10.7$% over the relevant temperature region.

Nuclear pasta structures at high temperatures

We investigate nuclear pasta structures at high temperatures in the framework of relativistic mean field model with Thomas-Fermi approximation. Typical pasta structures (droplet, rod, slab, tube, and bubble) are obtained, which form various crystalline configurations. The properties of those nuclear pastas are examined in a three-dimensional geometry with reflection symmetry, where the optimum lattice constants are fixed by reproducing the droplet/bubble density that minimizes the free energy adopting spherical or cylindrical approximations for Wigner-Seitz cells. It is found that different crystalline structures can evolve into each other via volume conserving deformations. For fixed densities and temperatures, the differences of the free energies per baryon of nuclear pasta in various shapes and lattice structures are typically on the order of tens of keV, suggesting the possible coexistence of those structures. As temperature increases, the thermodynamic fluctuations are expected to disrupt the long-range ordering in nuclear pasta structures. We then estimate the critical conditions for nuclear pasta to become disordered and behave like liquid, which are found to be sensitive to the densities, temperatures, proton fractions, and nuclear shapes. If we further increase temperature, eventually the nonuniform structures of nuclear pasta become unstable and are converted into uniform nuclear matter. The phase diagrams of nuclear matter are then estimated, which should be useful for understanding the evolutions of neutron stars, supernova dynamics, and binary neutron star mergers.

The role of the hadron-quark phase transition in core-collapse supernovae.

The hadron-quark phase transition in quantum chromodynamics has been suggested as an alternative explosion mechanism for core-collapse supernovae. We study the impact of three different hadron-quark equationsof state (EoS) with first-order (DD2F_SF, STOS-B145) and second-order (CMF) phase transitions on supernova dynamics by performing 97 simulations for solar- and zero-metallicity progenitors in the range of [Formula: see text]. We find explosions only for two low-compactness models (14 and [Formula: see text]) with the DD2F_SF EoS, both with low explosion energies of [Formula: see text]. These weak explosions are characterized by a neutrino signal with several minibursts in the explosion phase due to complex reverse shock dynamics, in addition to the typical second neutrino burst for phase-transition-driven explosions. The nucleosynthesis shows significant overproduction of nuclei such as 90Zr for the [Formula: see text] zero-metallicity model and 94Zr for the [Formula: see text] solar-metallicity model, but the overproduction factors are not large enough to place constraints on the occurrence of such explosions. Several other low-compactness models using the DD2F_SF EoS and two high-compactness models using the STOS EoS end up as failed explosions and emit a second neutrino burst. For the CMF EoS, the phase transition never leads to a second bounce and explosion. For all three EoS, inverted convection occurs deep in the core of the protocompact star due to anomalous behaviour of thermodynamic derivatives in the mixed phase, which heats the core to entropies up to 4k B/baryon and may have a distinctive gravitational-wave signature, also for a second-order phase transition.

Magnetic support for neutrino-driven explosion of 3D non-rotating core-collapse supernova models

ABSTRACT The impact of the magnetic field on post-bounce supernova dynamics of non-rotating stellar cores is studied by performing 3D magnetohydrodynamics simulations with spectral neutrino transport. The explodability of strongly and weakly magnetized models of 20 and 27 M⊙ pre-supernova progenitors are compared. We find that although the efficiency for the conversion of the neutrino heating into turbulent energy including magnetic fields in the gain region is not significantly different between the strong and weak field models, the amplified magnetic field due to the neutrino-driven convection on large hot bubbles just behind stalled shock results in a faster and more energetic explosion in the strongly magnetized models. In addition, by comparing the difference between the 2nd- and 5th-order spatial accuracy of the simulation in the strong field model for 27 M⊙ progenitor, we also find that the higher order accuracy in space is beneficial to the explosion because it enhances the growth of neutrino-driven convection in the gain region. Based on our results of core-collapse supernova simulations for the non-rotating model, a new possibility for the origin of the magnetic field of the protoneutron star (PNS) is proposed. The magnetic field is accumulated and amplified to magnetar level, that is, $\mathcal {O}(10^{14})$ G, in the convectively stable shell near the PNS surface.

Mass measurements towards doubly magic 78Ni: Hydrodynamics versus nuclear mass contribution in core-collapse supernovae

We report the first high-precision mass measurements of the neutron-rich nuclei 74,75Ni and the clearly identified ground state of 76Cu, along with a more precise mass-excess value of 78Cu, performed with the double Penning trap JYFLTRAP at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line (IGISOL) facility. These new results lead to a quantitative estimation of the quenching for the N=50 neutron shell gap. The impact of this shell quenching on core-collapse supernova dynamics is specifically tested using a dedicated statistical equilibrium approach that allows a variation of the mass model independent of the other microphysical inputs. We conclude that the impact of nuclear masses is strong when implemented using a fixed trajectory as in the previous studies, but the effect is substantially reduced when implemented self-consistently in the simulation.

Delta-resonances and hyperons in proto-neutron stars and merger remnants

The equation of state (EoS) and composition of dense and hot varDelta -resonance admixed hypernuclear matter is studied under conditions that are characteristic of neutron star binary merger remnants and supernovas. The cold, neutrino free regime is also considered as a reference for the astrophysical constraints on the EoS of dense matter. Our formalism uses the covariant density functional (CDF) theory successfully adapted to include the full J^P=1/2^+ baryon octet and non-strange members of J^P=3/2^+ decouplet with density-dependent couplings that have been suitably adjusted to the existing laboratory and astrophysical data. The effect of varDelta -resonances at finite temperatures is to soften the EoS of hypernuclear matter at intermediate densities and stiffen it at high densities. At low temperatures, the heavy baryons varLambda , varDelta ^-, varXi ^-, varXi ^0 and varDelta ^0 appear in the given order if the varDelta -meson couplings are close to those for the nucleon-meson couplings. As is the case for hyperons, the thresholds of varDelta -resonances move to lower densities with the increase of temperature indicating a significant fraction of varDelta ’s in the low-density subnuclear regime. We find that the varDelta -resonances comprise a significant fraction of baryonic matter, of the order of 10% at temperatures of the order of several tens of MeV in the neutrino-trapped regime and, thus, may affect the supernova and binary neutron star dynamics by providing, for example, a new source for neutrino opacity or a new channel for bulk viscosity via the direct Urca processes. The mass-radius relation of isentropic static, spherically symmetric hot compact stars is discussed.

Shock revival in core-collapse supernovae assisted by heavy axionlike particles

Axionlike particles (ALPs) are a class of hypothetical pseudoscalar particles which feebly interact with ordinary matter. The hot plasma of core-collapse supernovae is a possible laboratory to explore physics beyond the standard model including ALPs. Once produced, some of the ALPs can be absorbed by the supernova matter and affect energy transfer. In this study, we calculate the ALP emission in core-collapse supernovae and the backreaction on supernova dynamics consistently. It is found that the stalled bounce shock can be revived if the coupling between ALPs and photons is as high as ${g}_{a\ensuremath{\gamma}}\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{GeV}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ and the ALP mass is 40--400 MeV. Most of the models result in more energetic explosions than the average observed supernova. While this can be used to place constraints on those ALPs, long-term simulations across multiple progenitors need to be further investigated to place robust limits.

Nonlinear evolution of fast neutrino flavor conversion in the preshock region of core-collapse supernovae

In environments with high dense neutrino gases, such as in core-collapse supernovae, the neutrinos can experience collective neutrino oscillation due to their self-interactions. In particular, fast flavor conversion driven by the crossings in the neutrino angular distribution can affect explosion mechanism, nucleosynthesis, and neutrino observation. We perform the numerical computation of nonlinear flavor evolution on the neutrino angular distribution with tiny crossings expected to be generated in the preshock region. We demonstrate that the fast instability is triggered and a cascade develops under a realistic three-flavor model considering muon production and weak magnetism in the supernova dynamics. The tiny crossing excites specific spatial modes, and then the flavor instability propagates into other modes which otherwise remain stable due to the nonlinear effects. Our results indicate that fast flavor conversion can rise in the preshock region and have a sufficient impact on the flavor contents.

Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Near Detector Conceptual Design Report

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international, world-class experiment aimed at exploring fundamental questions about the universe that are at the forefront of astrophysics and particle physics research. DUNE will study questions pertaining to the preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of supernovae, the subtleties of neutrino interaction physics, and a number of beyond the Standard Model topics accessible in a powerful neutrino beam. A critical component of the DUNE physics program involves the study of changes in a powerful beam of neutrinos, i.e., neutrino oscillations, as the neutrinos propagate a long distance. The experiment consists of a near detector, sited close to the source of the beam, and a far detector, sited along the beam at a large distance. This document, the DUNE Near Detector Conceptual Design Report (CDR), describes the design of the DUNE near detector and the science program that drives the design and technology choices. The goals and requirements underlying the design, along with projected performance are given. It serves as a starting point for a more detailed design that will be described in future documents.

Nuclear pasta structures and symmetry energy

In the framework of the relativistic mean field model with Thomas-Fermi approximation, we study the structures of low density nuclear matter in a three-dimensional geometry with reflection symmetry. The numerical accuracy and efficiency are improved by expanding the mean fields according to fast cosine transformation and considering only one octant of the unit cell. The effect of finite cell size is treated carefully by searching for the optimum cell size. Typical pasta structures (droplet, rod, slab, tube, and bubble) arranged in various crystalline configurations are obtained for both fixed proton fractions and $\beta$-equilibration. It is found that the properties of droplets/bubbles are similar in body-centered cubic (BCC) and face-centered cubic (FCC) lattices, where the FCC lattice generally becomes more stable than BCC lattice as density increases. For the rod/tube phases, the honeycomb lattice is always more stable than the simple one. By introducing an $\omega$-$\rho$ cross coupling term, we further examine the pasta structures with a smaller slope of symmetry energy $L = 41.34$ MeV, which predicts larger onset densities for core-crust transition and non-spherical nuclei. Such a variation due to the reduction of $L$ is expected to have impacts on various properties in neutron stars, supernova dynamics, and binary neutron star mergers.

Impact of neutrino pair-production rates in core-collapse supernovae

In this paper, we present a careful study on the impact of neutrino pair-production on core-collapse supernovae via spherically-symmetric, general-relativistic simulations of two different massive star progenitors with energy-dependent neutrino transport. We explore the impact and consequences of both the underlying microphysics and the implementation in the radiation transport algorithms on the supernova evolution, neutrino signal properties, and the explosion dynamics. We consider the two dominant neutrino pair-production processes found in supernovae, electron-positron annihilation as well as nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung in combination with both a simplified and a complete treatment of the processes in the radiation transport algorithms. We find that the use of the simplified prescription quantitatively impacts the neutrino signal at the 10\% level and potentially the supernova dynamics, as we show for the case of a 9.6M$_\odot$ progenitor. We also show that the choice of nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung interaction can also have a quantitative impact on the neutrino signal. A self-consistent treatment with state-of-the-art microphysics is suggested for precision simulations of core collapse, however the simplified treatment explored here is both computationally less demanding and results in a qualitatively similar evolution.

Neutrino-nucleus reactions and their role in supernova nucleosynthesis

Neutrino reactions on nuclei play important roles for the dynamics of supernovae and their associated nucleosynthesis. This manuscript summarizes the current status in deriving the relevant cross sections for supernova neutrinos and discusses the importance of neutrino-nucleus reactions for supernova nucleosynthesis. In particular we report on the first study of neutrino nucleosynthesis which consistently considers time-dependent spectra for all neutrino flavors as predicted by supernova simulations.

Several QRPA method calculations of the Gamow–Teller strength distributions in $$^{62{-}72}$$Ge

Studies of exotic nuclei are currently one of the most prolific in nuclear physics. Weak rates in germanium isotopes have a fundamental role in the dynamics of supernovae. Electron capture and beta-decay of germanium isotopes, specified by Gamow–Teller transitions, importantly modify the lepton fraction of the stellar matter. In this study, Gamow–Teller Transitions (GT) for $$^{62{-}72}$$ Ge are calculated using QRPA methods. The GT strength distributions are calculated using eight different QRPA models. QRPA models, namely single quasi-particle (sqp), Pyatov method (PM) and the schematic model (SM), are further divided into four subcategories. Using these models, Gamow–Teller distribution, total GT strengths along electron capture direction ( $$\sum $$ B(GT) $$_+$$ ) and Ikeda sum rule are calculated. The results of sqp, PM, and SM are also compared with previous theoretical calculations and measured strength distributions wherever available. It is expected that this study of GT properties would gain favor and may help to a better understanding of the presupernova evolution of massive stars.

Study of the 7Be(α,γ)11C reaction with DRAGON for vp–process nucleosynthesis

The production of the p–nuclei is one of the unsolved puzzles in nuclear astrophysics. A possible mechanism is the nucleosynthesis in the neutrino–driven winds of core–collapse supernovae (νp–process), but it carries uncertainties, mostly in the supernova dynamics and the nuclear physics input. The pp-chain breakout reaction 7Be(α,γ)11C, which occurs prior to the supernova explosion, was identified as an important link which can influence the nuclear flow of the z/p-process and the final abundances of the p-nuclei. Nevertheless, its reaction rate is poorly known over the relevant energy range (T=1.5-3 GK). To improve the 7Be(α,γ)11C rate for vp-process nucleosynthesis temperatures, the first measurement of the strengths of two important resonances with unknown strength was recently performed at TRIUMF. A radioactive 7Be beam (t1/2 = 53.24 d) beam and the DRAGON recoil separator were used. The experimental details and preliminary results for the resonance strengths will be discussed.

Neutrino emission characteristics of black hole formation in three-dimensional simulations of stellar collapse

Neutrinos are unique probes of core-collapse supernova dynamics, especially in the case of black hole (BH) forming stellar collapses, where the electromagnetic emission may be faint or absent. By investigating two 3D hydrodynamical simulations of BH-forming stellar collapses of mass 40 and 75 M_sun, we identify the physical processes preceding BH formation through neutrinos, and forecast the neutrino signal expected in the existing IceCube and Super-Kamiokande detectors, as well as in the future generation DUNE facility. Prior to the abrupt termination of the neutrino signal corresponding to BH formation, both models develop episodes of strong and long-lasting activity by the spiral standing accretion shock instability (SASI). We find that the spiral SASI peak in the Fourier power spectrum of the neutrino event rate will be distinguishable at 3 sigma above the detector noise for distances up to O(30) kpc in the most optimistic scenario, with IceCube having the highest sensitivity. Interestingly, given the long duration of the spiral SASI episodes, the spectrograms of the expected neutrino event rate carry clear signs of the evolution of the blue spiral SASI frequency as a function of time, as the shock radius and post-shock fluid velocity evolve. Due to the high accretion luminosity and its large-amplitude SASI-induced modulations, any contribution from asymmetric (dipolar or quadrupolar) neutrino emission associated with the lepton emission self-sustained asymmetry (LESA) is far subdominant in the neutrino signal.

Pions in hot dense matter and their astrophysical implications

We study the role of pions in hot dense matter encountered in astrophysics. We find that strong interactions enhance the number density of negatively charged pions and that this enhancement can be calculated reliably for a relevant range of density and temperature using the virial expansion. We assess the influence of pions and muons on the equation of state (EOS) and weak interaction rates in hot dense matter. We find that thermal pions increase the proton fraction and soften the EOS. We also find that charged current weak reactions involving pions and muons $\bar{\nu}_\mu+\mu^- \rightarrow \pi$ and $\nu_\mu+\pi^- \rightarrow \mu^-$ make an important contribution to the opacity of muon neutrinos. This could influence the dynamics of core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers. Finally, we note that pion-nucleon reactions can alter the evolution of the proton fraction when weak interactions are not in equilibrium.

Neutrino oscillations in supernovae: Angular moments and fast instabilities

Recent theoretical work indicates that the neutrino radiation in core-collapse supernovae may be susceptible to flavor instabilities that set in far behind the shock, grow extremely rapidly, and have the potential to profoundly affect supernova dynamics and composition. Here we analyze the nonlinear collective oscillations that are prefigured by these instabilities. We demonstrate that a zero-crossing in $n_{\nu_e} - n_{\bar{\nu}_e}$ as a function of propagation angle is not sufficient to generate instability. Our analysis accounts for this fact and allows us to formulate complementary criteria. Using Fornax simulation data, we show that fast collective oscillations qualitatively depend on how forward-peaked the neutrino angular distributions are.

Influence of Density Dependence of Symmetry Energy in Hot and Dense Matter for Supernova Simulations

Abstract We study the influence of density-dependent symmetry energy at high densities in simulations of core-collapse supernovae, black hole formation, and proto–neutron star cooling by extending the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory used for the Shen equation-of-state (EOS) table. We adopt the extended RMF theory to examine the density dependence of the symmetry energy with a small value of the slope parameter L, while the original properties of the symmetric nuclear matter are unchanged. In order to assess matter effects at high densities, we perform numerical simulations of gravitational collapse of massive stars adopting the EOS table at high densities beyond 1014 g cm−3 with the small L value, which is in accord with the experimental and observational constraints, and compare them with the results obtained by using the Shen EOS. Numerical results for 11.2 and 15 M ⊙ stars exhibit minor effects around the core bounce and in the following evolution for 200 ms. Numerical results for 40 and 50 M ⊙ stars reveal a shorter duration toward the black hole formation with a smaller maximum mass for the small-L case. Numerical simulations of proto–neutron star cooling over 10 s through neutrino emissions demonstrate increasing effects of the symmetry energy at high densities. Neutrino cooling drastically proceeds in a relatively long timescale with high luminosities and average energies with the small symmetry energy. Evolution toward the cold neutron star is affected because of the different behavior of neutron-rich matter, while supernova dynamics around core bounce remains similar in less neutron-rich environments.