| 1. |
- Kirsebom, O. S., et al.
(författare)
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Discovery of an Exceptionally Strong β -Decay Transition of F 20 and Implications for the Fate of Intermediate-Mass Stars
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007. ; 123:26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A significant fraction of stars between 7 and 11 solar masses are thought to become supernovae, but the explosion mechanism is unclear. The answer depends critically on the rate of electron capture on Ne20 in the degenerate oxygen-neon stellar core. However, because of the unknown strength of the transition between the ground states of Ne20 and F20, it has not previously been possible to fully constrain the rate. By measuring the transition, we establish that its strength is exceptionally large and that it enhances the capture rate by several orders of magnitude. This has a decisive impact on the evolution of the core, increasing the likelihood that the star is (partially) disrupted by a thermonuclear explosion rather than collapsing to form a neutron star. Importantly, our measurement resolves the last remaining nuclear physics uncertainty in the final evolution of degenerate oxygen-neon stellar cores, allowing future studies to address the critical role of convection, which at present is poorly understood
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| 2. |
- Maeda, K., et al.
(författare)
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An asymmetric explosion as the origin of spectral evolution diversity in type Ia supernovae
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 466:7302, s. 82-85
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Type Ia supernovae form an observationally uniform class of stellar explosions, in that more luminous objects have smaller decline-rates. This one-parameter behaviour allows type Ia supernovae to be calibrated as cosmological `standard candles', and led to the discovery of an accelerating Universe. Recent investigations, however, have revealed that the true nature of type Ia supernovae is more complicated. Theoretically, it has been suggested that the initial thermonuclear sparks are ignited at an offset from the centre of the white-dwarf progenitor, possibly as a result of convection before the explosion. Observationally, the diversity seen in the spectral evolution of type Ia supernovae beyond the luminosity-decline-rate relation is an unresolved issue. Here we report that the spectral diversity is a consequence of random directions from which an asymmetric explosion is viewed. Our findings suggest that the spectral evolution diversity is no longer a concern when using type Ia supernovae as cosmological standard candles. Furthermore, this indicates that ignition at an offset from the centre is a generic feature of type Ia supernovae.
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| 3. |
- Bulla, M., et al.
(författare)
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Predicting polarization signatures for double-detonation and delayed-detonation models of Type Ia supernovae
- 2016
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 462:1, s. 1039-1056
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Calculations of synthetic spectropolarimetry are one means to test multidimensional explosion models for Type Ia supernovae. In a recent paper, we demonstrated that the violent merger of a 1.1 and 0.9 M-circle dot white dwarf binary system is too asymmetric to explain the low polarization levels commonly observed in normal Type Ia supernovae. Here, we present polarization simulations for two alternative scenarios: the sub-Chandrasekhar mass double-detonation and the Chandrasekhar mass delayed-detonation model. Specifically, we study a 2D double-detonation model and a 3D delayed-detonation model, and calculate polarization spectra for multiple observer orientations in both cases. We find modest polarization levels (<1 per cent) for both explosion models. Polarization in the continuum peaks at similar to 0.1-0.3 per cent and decreases aftermaximum light, in excellent agreement with spectropolarimetric data of normal Type Ia supernovae. Higher degrees of polarization are found across individual spectral lines. In particular, the synthetic Si II lambda 6355 profiles are polarized at levels that match remarkably well the values observed in normal Type Ia supernovae, while the low degrees of polarization predicted across the O I lambda 7774 region are consistent with the non-detection of this feature in current data. We conclude that our models can reproduce many of the characteristics of both flux and polarization spectra for well-studied Type Ia supernovae, such as SN 2001el and SN 2012fr. However, the two models considered here cannot account for the unusually high level of polarization observed in extreme cases such as SN 2004dt.
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| 4. |
- Bulla, M., et al.
(författare)
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Type Ia supernovae from violent mergers of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs : polarization signatures
- 2016
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 455:1, s. 1060-1070
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The violent merger of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs has been proposed as a viable progenitor for some Type Ia supernovae. However, it has been argued that the strong ejecta asymmetries produced by this model might be inconsistent with the low degree of polarization typically observed in Type Ia supernova explosions. Here, we test this claim by carrying out a spectropolarimetric analysis for the model proposed by Pakmor et al. for an explosion triggered during the merger of a 1.1 and 0.9 M-circle dot carbon-oxygen white dwarf binary system. Owing to the asymmetries of the ejecta, the polarization signal varies significantly with viewing angle. We find that polarization levels for observers in the equatorial plane are modest (less than or similar to 1 per cent) and show clear evidence for a dominant axis, as a consequence of the ejecta symmetry about the orbital plane. In contrast, orientations out of the plane are associated with higher degrees of polarization and departures from a dominant axis. While the particular model studied here gives a good match to highly polarized events such as SN 2004dt, it has difficulties in reproducing the low polarization levels commonly observed in normal Type Ia supernovae. Specifically, we find that significant asymmetries in the element distribution result in a wealth of strong polarization features that are not observed in the majority of currently available spectropolarimetric data of Type Ia supernovae. Future studies will map out the parameter space of the merger scenario to investigate if alternative models can provide better agreement with observations.
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| 5. |
- Kromer, Markus, et al.
(författare)
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SN 2010LP-A TYPE IA SUPERNOVA FROM A VIOLENT MERGER OF TWO CARBON-OXYGEN WHITE DWARFS
- 2013
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 778:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- SN 2010lp is a subluminous Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) with slowly evolving lightcurves. Moreover, it is the only subluminous SN Ia observed so far that shows narrow emission lines of [O I] in late-time spectra, indicating unburned oxygen close to the center of the ejecta. Most explosion models for SNe Ia cannot explain the narrow [O I] emission. Here, we present hydrodynamic explosion and radiative transfer calculations showing that the violent merger of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs of 0.9 and 0.76 M-circle dot adequately reproduces the early-time observables of SN 2010lp. Moreover, our model predicts oxygen close to the center of the explosion ejecta, a pre-requisite for narrow [O I] emission in nebular spectra as observed in SN 2010lp.
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| 6. |
- Latour, M., et al.
(författare)
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Quantitative spectral analysis of the sdB star HD188112 : A helium-core white dwarf progenitor
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 585
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. HD 188112 is a bright (V = 10 : 2 mag) hot subdwarf B (sdB) star with a mass too low to ignite core helium burning and is therefore considered a pre-extremely low-mass (ELM) white dwarf (WD). ELM WDs (M less than or similar to 0.3 M-circle dot) are He-core objects produced by the evolution of compact binary systems. Aims. We present in this paper a detailed abundance analysis of HD188112 based on high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) near-and far-ultraviolet spectroscopy. We also constrain the mass of the star's companion. Methods. We use hybrid non-LTE model atmospheres to fit the observed spectral lines, and to derive the abundances of more than a dozen elements and the rotational broadening of metallic lines. Results. We confirm the previous binary system parameters by combining radial velocities measured in our UV spectra with the previously published values. The system has a period of 0.60658584 days and a WD companion with M >= 0.70 M-circle dot. By assuming a tidally locked rotation combined with the projected rotational velocity (v sin i = 7.9 +/- 0.3 km s(-1)), we constrain the companion mass to be between 0.9 and 1.3 M-circle dot. We further discuss the future evolution of the system as a potential progenitor of an underluminous type Ia supernova. We measure abundances for Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Zn, and for the trans-iron elements Ga, Sn, and Pb. In addition, we derive upper limits for the C, N, O elements and find HD188112 to be strongly depleted in carbon. We find evidence of non-LTE e ff ects on the line strength of some ionic species such as Si II and Ni II. The metallic abundances indicate that the star is metal-poor, with an abundance pattern most likely produced by diffusion effects.
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| 7. |
- Sasdelli, Michele, et al.
(författare)
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A metric space for Type Ia supernova spectra : a new method to assess explosion scenarios
- 2017
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 466:4, s. 3784-3809
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Over the past years, Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have become a major tool to determine the expansion history of the Universe, and considerable attention has been given to, both, observations and models of these events. However, until now, their progenitors are not known. The observed diversity of light curves and spectra seems to point at different progenitor channels and explosion mechanisms. Here, we present a newway to compare model predictions with observations in a systematic way. Our method is based on the construction of a metric space for SN Ia spectra by means of linear principal component analysis, taking care of missing and/or noisy data, and making use of partial least-squares regression to find correlations between spectral properties and photometric data. We investigate realizations of the three major classes of explosion models that are presently discussed: delayed-detonation Chandrasekharmass explosions, sub-Chandrasekhar-mass detonations and double-degenerate mergers, and compare them with data. We show that in the principal component space, all scenarios have observed counterparts, supporting the idea that different progenitors are likely. However, all classes of models face problems in reproducing the observed correlations between spectral properties and light curves and colours. Possible reasons are briefly discussed.
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