Nuclear astrophysics of supernovae
In this paper, I'll give a general introduction to Supernova Theory, beginning with the presupernova evolution and ending with the later stages of the explosion. This will be distilled from a colloquium type of talk. It is necessary to have the whole supernova picture in one's mind's eye when diving into some of its nooks and crannies, as it is quite a mess of contradictory ingredients. We will have some discussion of supernova 1987a, but will keep our discussion more general. Second, we'll look at the infall and bounce of the star, seeing why it goes unstable, what dynamics it follows as it collapses, and how and why it bounces back. From there, we will go on to look at the equation of state (EOS) in more detail. We'll consider the cases T = 0 and T > 0. We'll focus on /rho/ < /rho//sub 0/, and then /rho/ > /rho//sub 0/ and the EOS of neutron stars, and whether or not they contain cores of strange matter. There are many things we could discuss here and not enough time. If I had more lectures, the remaining time would focus on two more questions of special interest to nuclear physicists: the electron capture reactions and neutrino transport. If time permitted, we'd have some discussion of the nucleosynthetic reactions in the explosion's debris as well. However, we cannot cover such material adequately, and I have chosen these topics because they are analytically tractable, pedagogically useful, and rather important. 23 refs., 14 figs., 3 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 6034283
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-42605; ON: DE89012534
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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GENERAL PHYSICS
SUPERNOVAE
DYNAMICS
ASTROPHYSICS
ELECTRON CAPTURE
EQUATIONS OF STATE
NEUTRON STARS
NUCLEAR MATTER
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
CAPTURE
EQUATIONS
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
MATTER
MECHANICS
STARS
VARIABLE STARS
640102* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources