Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Jan 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21332103f&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #321.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.376
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Massive stars at the end of their lives release huge amounts of energy in supernova explosions which can be detected across cosmological distances. Even if prior observations exist, such distances make supernova progenitors difficult to identify. Very early observations of supernovae give us a rare view of these short-lived stars immediately before core collapse. Several recently observed X-ray and UV bursts associated with supernova have been interpreted as shock breakout observations. When the radiation-dominated shock wave from core collapse approaches the stellar surface, the optical depth of the plasma ahead of the shock decreases until the radiation can escape in a burst. If a dense wind is present, the shock breaks out beyond the stellar surface. Occurring days or weeks before the optical light from radioactive decay peaks, shock breakout radiation can be used to determine the radius of the progenitor star or its recent mass loss history. Whether the durations and spectra of the observed X-ray and UV bursts match those expected for shock breakout is currently being debated. A similar phenomenon would occur when the shockwave interacts with gas shells such as those ejected by luminous blue variable outbursts. Full radiation-hydrodynamics calculations are necessary to reproduce the behavior of the radiation-dominated shock and shock breakout. We use a radiation-hydrodynamics code with adaptive mesh refinement to follow the motion of the shock wave with high resolution. We run a suite of one dimensional simulations using binary and single progenitors with a range of mass loss histories, wind velocities and explosion energies. These simulations will better constrain the properties of the progenitor star and its environment that can be derived from shock breakout observations.
This work was funded in part under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and supported by its contract W-7405-ENG-36 to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Frey Lucille
Fryer Chris L.
Hungerford Aimee Louise
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