Physical processes in collapse-driven supernovae

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5266554

Mayle, R W

Supernovae are believed to occur when a massive star, unable to continue burning nuclear fuel in its interior, collapses, and subsequently produces a spectacular explosion. The understanding of how this occurs has been the subject of much research over the years, yet the exact scenario has been elusive. James R. Wilson, in 1982, discovered what may be the solution to this problem. The explosive mechanism he found relies on the fact that the central part of these massive stars evolve into neutron stars, and in so doing, emit about 10/sup 55/ ergs of energy in neutrinos. About one second after the core of the star has collapsed to nuclear densities, thermodynamic conditions in the region behind the accretion shock (produced as the core halted and bounced) and outside the neutrinosphere, are favorable for free baryons to absorb the hot core neutrinos, and gain thermal energy. This gain of energy produces material pressure that pushes on the accretion shock, and helps it to move into the stellar envelope. Work that continues the investigations of these late time supernovae (so called because it was previously thought that, after bounce, an explosion would occur on timescales of tens of milliseconds) is reported in this thesis. The method of neutrino transport being used in a numerical simulation is very important in the study of late time supernovae, as the explosive mechanism depends on neutrino heating of the material behind the shock. Neutrino transport is discussed, and results are presented that indicate flux limited neutrino transport does an adequate job of following the neutrino evolution.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5266554
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
FERMIONS
GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
NEUTRINOS
NEUTRON STARS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
ORIGIN
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
SUPERNOVAE
SYNTHESIS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS
VARIABLE STARS