DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Using failed supernovae to constrain the Galactic r-process element production

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
 [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, 2401 Stinson Dr, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202, USA, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics – Center for the Evolution of the Elements
  2. Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 15-17, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics – Center for the Evolution of the Elements, NuGrid collaborations, http://nugridstars.org
  3. Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 15-17, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary, E.A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics – Center for the Evolution of the Elements, NuGrid collaborations, http://nugridstars.org
  4. University of Basel, Department of Physics, Klingelbergstr. 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstraße 1, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany

ABSTRACT Rapid neutron capture process (r-process) elements have been detected in a large fraction of metal-poor halo stars, with abundances relative to iron (Fe) that vary by over two orders of magnitude. This scatter is reduced to less than a factor of 3 in younger Galactic disc stars. The large scatter of r-process elements in the early Galaxy suggests that the r-process is made by rare events, like compact binary mergers and rare sub-classes of supernovae. Although being rare, neutron star mergers alone have difficulties to explain the observed enhancement of r-process elements in the lowest metallicity stars compared to Fe. The supernovae producing the two neutron stars already provide a substantial Fe abundance where the r-process ejecta from the merger would be injected. In this work we investigate another complementary scenario, where the r-process occurs in neutron star-black hole mergers in addition to neutron star mergers. Neutron star-black hole mergers would eject similar amounts of r-process matter as neutron star mergers, but only the neutron star progenitor would have produced Fe. Furthermore, a reduced efficiency of Fe production from single stars significantly alters the age–metallicity relation, which shifts the onset of r-process production to lower metallicities. We use the high-resolution [(20 pc)3/cell] inhomogeneous chemical evolution tool ‘ICE’ to study the outcomes of these effects. In our simulations, an adequate combination of neutron star mergers and neutron star-black hole mergers qualitatively reproduces the observed r-process abundances in the Galaxy.

Research Organization:
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST); European Research Council; National Science Foundation (NSF); Research Corporation for Science Advancement; Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC); University of Hull
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-02ER41216; SC0010263
OSTI ID:
1524482
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 487; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

References (129)

Crucial Physical Dependencies of the Core-Collapse Supernova Mechanism journal January 2018
The R-process and nucleochronology journal November 1991
The neutrino signal in stellar core collapse and postbounce evolution journal May 2003
The physics of type Ia supernovae journal May 2004
Nucleosynthesis of 60Fe in massive stars journal October 2006
Nucleosynthesis and remnants in massive stars of solar metallicity journal April 2007
The r-process of stellar nucleosynthesis: Astrophysics and nuclear physics achievements and mysteries journal September 2007
What are the astrophysical sites for the r-process and the production of heavy elements? journal April 2011
New Highly r-Process-Enhanced Halo Stars journal July 2017
Nucleosynthesis, neutrino bursts and γ-rays from coalescing neutron stars journal July 1989
A large-scale dynamo and magnetoturbulence in rapidly rotating core-collapse supernovae journal November 2015
R-process enrichment from a single event in an ancient dwarf galaxy journal March 2016
Origin of the heavy elements in binary neutron-star mergers from a gravitational-wave event journal October 2017
Deep-sea diving for stellar debris journal December 2015
Collapsars as a major source of r-process elements journal May 2019
A high-resolution VLT/FLAMES study of individual stars in the centre of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy journal November 2010
The extremely low-metallicity tail of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy journal January 2013
Massive double compact object mergers: gravitational wave sources and r-process element production sites journal April 2014
The role of neutron star mergers in the chemical evolution of the Galactic halo journal May 2015
The first direct double neutron star merger detection: Implications for cosmic nucleosynthesis journal July 2018
Neutron star mergers versus core-collapse supernovae as dominant r-process sites in the early Galaxy journal March 2004
Metallicity effect in multi-dimensional SNIa nucleosynthesis journal November 2005
The rates of type Ia supernovae: I. Analytical formulations journal September 2005
The Hamburg/ESO R-process enhanced star survey (HERES): II. Spectroscopic analysis of the survey sample journal July 2005
Stellar evolution with rotation: XIII. Predicted GRB rates at various Z journal November 2005
Very low-metallicity massive stars:: Pre-SN evolution models and primary nitrogen production journal October 2006
First stars: VIII. Enrichment of the neutron-capture elements in the early Galaxy journal September 2007
Nucleosynthesis inside Magnetically-Driven Jets in A Gamma-Ray Burst
  • Fujimoto, Shin-ichirou
  • ORIGIN OF MATTER AND EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES: International Symposium on Origin of Matter and Evolution of Galaxies 2005: New Horizon of Nuclear Astrophysics and Cosmology, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2234434
conference January 2006
The r-process and neutrino-heated supernova ejecta journal September 1994
Black-hole-neutron-star collisions journal September 1974
Gamma-ray bursters at cosmological distances journal September 1986
[ITAL]HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE[/ITAL][ITAL]Hubble Space Telescope[/ITAL] Measurements of the Expansion of NGC 6543: Parallax Distance and Nebular Evolution journal November 1999
The Global Schmidt Law in Star‐forming Galaxies journal May 1998
[CLC][ITAL]r[/ITAL][/CLC]-Process in Neutron Star Mergers journal November 1999
Nucleosynthesis in Chandrasekhar Mass Models for Type Ia Supernovae and Constraints on Progenitor Systems and Burning‐Front Propagation
  • Iwamoto, Koichi; Brachwitz, Franziska; Nomoto, Ken’ichi
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 125, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/313278
journal December 1999
Neutron‐Capture Elements in the Early Galaxy: Insights from a Large Sample of Metal‐poor Giants journal November 2000
The Nature of the Red Giant Branches in the Ursa Minor and Draco Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
  • Shetrone, Matthew D.; Côté, Patrick; Stetson, Peter B.
  • Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 113, Issue 787 https://doi.org/10.1086/322839
journal September 2001
VLT/UVES Abundances in Four Nearby Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies. I. Nucleosynthesis and Abundance Ratios journal February 2003
How Massive Single Stars End Their Life journal July 2003
On Variations in the Peak Luminosity of Type Ia Supernovae journal May 2003
The Cosmic Coalescence Rates for Double Neutron Star Binaries journal January 2004
The Rise of the s ‐Process in the Galaxy journal December 2004
Unraveling the Helix Nebula: Its Structure and Knots journal November 2004
"Sculptor-ing" the Galaxy? The Chemical Compositions of Red Giants in the Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy journal March 2005
Nucleosynthesis in the Hot Convective Bubble in Core‐Collapse Supernovae journal April 2005
The Origins of Two Classes of Carbon‐enhanced, Metal‐poor Stars journal December 2005
Composition of the Innermost Core‐Collapse Supernova Ejecta journal January 2006
Nucleosynthesis in Early Supernova Winds. II. The Role of Neutrinos journal June 2006
The Nucleosynthesis of 26 Al and 60 Fe in Solar Metallicity Stars Extending in Mass from 11 to 120 M : The Hydrostatic and Explosive Contributions journal August 2006
The rp‐Process in Neutrino‐driven Winds journal August 2006
Nucleosynthesis in Magnetically Driven Jets from Collapsars journal June 2008
A Search for Stars of very low Metal Abundance. vi. Detailed Abundances of 313 Metal-Poor Stars journal May 2014
The Chemical Evolution of the Draco Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy journal July 2009
The Ubiquity of the Rapid Neutron-Capture Process journal November 2010
Chemodynamical Simulations of the Milky way Galaxy journal February 2011
Progenitor-Explosion Connection and Remnant Birth Masses for Neutrino-Driven Supernovae of Iron-Core Progenitors journal September 2012
Double Compact Objects. i. the Significance of the Common Envelope on Merger Rates journal October 2012
ADVANCED BURNING STAGES AND FATE OF 8-10 M STARS journal July 2013
Systematics of Dynamical mass Ejection, Nucleosynthesis, and Radioactively Powered Electromagnetic Signals from Neutron-Star Mergers journal July 2013
CHEMISTRY OF THE SAGITTARIUS DWARF GALAXY: A TOP-LIGHT INITIAL MASS FUNCTION, OUTFLOWS, AND THE R -PROCESS journal November 2013
The Universal Stellar Mass-Stellar Metallicity Relation for Dwarf Galaxies journal November 2013
Neutron-Capture Nucleosynthesis in the First Stars journal March 2014
GALACTIC CHEMICAL EVOLUTION AND SOLAR s -PROCESS ABUNDANCES: DEPENDENCE ON THE 13 C-POCKET STRUCTURE journal April 2014
Pushing Core-Collapse Supernovae to Explosions in Spherical Symmetry. i. the Model and the case of sn 1987a journal June 2015
THE HISTORY OF R -PROCESS ENRICHMENT IN THE MILKY WAY journal July 2015
THE ROLE OF FISSION IN NEUTRON STAR MERGERS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE r -PROCESS PEAKS journal July 2015
ENRICHMENT OF r -PROCESS ELEMENTS IN DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXIES IN CHEMO-DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION MODEL journal November 2015
Neutrino-driven wind simulations and nucleosynthesis of heavy elements journal November 2012
Core collapse with magnetic fields and rotation journal June 2018
METALLICITY AS A SOURCE OF DISPERSION IN THE SNIa BOLOMETRIC LIGHT CURVE LUMINOSITY-WIDTH RELATIONSHIP journal February 2010
MAGNETOROTATIONALLY DRIVEN SUPERNOVAE AS THE ORIGIN OF EARLY GALAXY r -PROCESS ELEMENTS? journal April 2012
THE r -PROCESS IN PROTO-NEUTRON-STAR WIND REVISITED journal May 2013
Magnetorotational Core-Collapse Supernovae in Three Dimensions journal April 2014
PRODUCTION OF ALL THE r -PROCESS NUCLIDES IN THE DYNAMICAL EJECTA OF NEUTRON STAR MERGERS journal June 2014
NEUTRON STAR MERGERS AS THE ORIGIN OF r -PROCESS ELEMENTS IN THE GALACTIC HALO BASED ON THE SUB-HALO CLUSTERING SCENARIO journal May 2015
Three-dimensional delayed-detonation models with nucleosynthesis for Type Ia supernovae journal December 2012
The Stellar Abundances for Galactic Archaeology (SAGA) Database – III. Analysis of enrichment histories for elements and two modes of star formation during the early evolution of the Milky Way journal October 2013
Europium production: neutron star mergers versus core-collapse supernovae journal January 2014
The long-term evolution of neutron star merger remnants - I. The impact of r-process nucleosynthesis journal January 2014
Nine new metal-poor stars on the subgiant and red horizontal branches with high levels of r-process enhancement★ journal October 2014
Galactic r-process enrichment by neutron star mergers in cosmological simulations of a Milky Way-mass galaxy journal December 2014
Comprehensive nucleosynthesis analysis for ejecta of compact binary mergers journal February 2015
Galactic evolution of rapid neutron capture process abundances: the inhomogeneous approach journal July 2015
Gusty, gaseous flows of FIRE: galactic winds in cosmological simulations with explicit stellar feedback journal October 2015
On the maximum magnetic field amplification by the magnetorotational instability in core-collapse supernovae journal May 2016
Simulating galaxy formation with the IllustrisTNG model journal October 2017
Double neutron stars: merger rates revisited journal November 2017
Impact of ejecta morphology and composition on the electromagnetic signatures of neutron star mergers journal April 2018
Galactic simulations of r-process elemental abundances journal December 2018
r-Process nucleosynthesis from three-dimensional jet-driven core-collapse supernovae with magnetic misalignments journal March 2018
Stellar Abundances for the Galactic Archeology (SAGA) Database — Compilation of the Characteristics of Known Extremely Metal-Poor Stars journal October 2008
Kilonova from post-merger ejecta as an optical and near-Infrared counterpart of GW170817 journal October 2017
Density perturbations and black hole formation in hybrid inflation journal November 1996
GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral journal October 2017
Neutrino-Induced Nucleosynthesis of A > 64 Nuclei: The ν p Process journal April 2006
The evolution and explosion of massive stars journal November 2002
The s process: Nuclear physics, stellar models, and observations journal April 2011
Colloquium : Perspectives on core-collapse supernova theory journal February 2013
The Stellar Abundances for Galactic Archaeology (SAGA) data base - II. Implications for mixing and nucleosynthesis in extremely metal-poor stars and chemical enrichment of the Galaxy: SAGA data base - II journal February 2011
On the astrophysical robustness of the neutron star merger r-process: Robust r-process in neutron star mergers journal October 2012
Neutron star mergers as sites of r-process nucleosynthesis and short gamma-ray bursts journal October 2018
Stellar Multiplicity journal August 2013
Nucleosynthesis in Stars and the Chemical Enrichment of Galaxies journal August 2013
Neutron Star Mergers and Nucleosynthesis of Heavy Elements journal October 2017
From Nuclei to the Cosmos: Tracing Heavy-Element Production with the Oldest Stars journal October 2018
Physics of Core-Collapse Supernovae in Three Dimensions: A Sneak Preview journal October 2016
Neutron-Capture Elements in the Early Galaxy journal September 2008
The Evolution and Impacts of Magnetorotational Instability in Magnetized Core-Collapse Supernovae journal January 2016
A Two-Parameter Criterion for Classifying the Explodability of Massive Stars by the Neutrino-Driven Mechanism journal February 2016
Core-Collapse Supernovae from 9 to 120 Solar Masses Based on Neutrino-Powered Explosions journal April 2016
CONTRIBUTION OF NEUTRON STAR MERGERS TO THE r-PROCESS CHEMICAL EVOLUTION IN THE HIERARCHICAL GALAXY FORMATION journal October 2016
Advanced LIGO Constraints on Neutron Star Mergers and r-process Sites journal February 2017
Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems journal September 2017
The R -process Alliance: First Release from the Southern Search for R -process-enhanced Stars in the Galactic Halo journal May 2018
The Diversity of Kilonova Emission in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts journal June 2018
Explosive Nucleosynthesis in Near-Chandrasekhar-mass White Dwarf Models for Type Ia Supernovae: Dependence on Model Parameters journal July 2018
Stochastic Chemical Evolution of Galactic Subhalos and the Origin of r -process Elements journal September 2018
PUSHing Core-collapse Supernovae to Explosions in Spherical Symmetry. II. Explodability and Remnant Properties journal December 2018
PUSHing Core-collapse Supernovae to Explosions in Spherical Symmetry. III. Nucleosynthesis Yields journal December 2018
Neutron Star Mergers Might Not Be the Only Source of r -process Elements in the Milky Way journal April 2019
Presupernova Evolution and Explosive Nucleosynthesis of Rotating Massive Stars in the Metallicity Range −3 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0 journal July 2018
The Intermediate r-process in Core-collapse Supernovae Driven by the Magneto-rotational Instability journal February 2017
The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. II. UV, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves and Comparison to Kilonova Models journal October 2017
The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. IV. Detection of Near-infrared Signatures of r -process Nucleosynthesis with Gemini-South journal October 2017
The Emergence of a Lanthanide-rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars journal October 2017
Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger journal October 2017
Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A journal October 2017
The Combined Ultraviolet, Optical, and Near-infrared Light Curves of the Kilonova Associated with the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817: Unified Data Set, Analytic Models, and Physical Implications journal December 2017
The GW170817/GRB 170817A/AT 2017gfo Association: Some Implications for Physics and Astrophysics journal December 2017