Quark-Novae, cosmic reionization, and early r-process element production

Details Quark-Novae, cosmic reionization, and early r-process element production Quark-Novae, cosmic reionization, and early r-process element production

2008-10-31

arxiv.org/abs/0811.0041v3

Astrophys.J.702:1575-1583,2009

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 9 journal pages, 2 figures. This version includes more discussion, 3 ne

Scientific paper

10.1088/0004-637X/702/2/1575

We examine the case for Quark-Novae (QNe) as possible sources for the reionization and early metal enrichment of the universe. Quark-Novae are predicted to arise from the explosive collapse (and conversion) of sufficiently massive neutron stars into quark stars. A Quark-Nova (QN) can occur over a range of time scales following the supernova event. For QNe that arise days to weeks after the supernovae, we show that dual-shock that arises as the QN ejecta encounter the supernova ejecta can produce enough photons to reionize hydrogen in most of the Inter-Galactic medium (IGM) by z ~ 6. Such events can explain the large optical depth tau_e ~ 0.1 as measured by WMAP, if the clumping factor, C, of the material being ionized is smaller than 10. We suggest a way in which a normal initial mass function (IMF) for the oldest stars can be reconciled with a large optical depth as well as the mean metallicity of the early IGM post reionization. We find that QN also make a contribution to r-process element abundances for atomic numbers A > 130. We predict that the main cosmological signatures of Quark-Novae are the gamma-ray bursts that announce their birth. These will be clustered at redshifts in the range z ~ 7-8 in our model.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Quark-Novae, cosmic reionization, and early r-process element production does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Quark-Novae, cosmic reionization, and early r-process element production, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Quark-Novae, cosmic reionization, and early r-process element production will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-381688