Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Relativistic Encounters with Rotating Intermediate Mass Black Holes

Abstract

We present results from general relativistic calculations of nuclear ignition in white dwarf stars triggered by near encounters with rotating intermediate mass black holes with different spin and alignment parameters. These encounters create thermonuclear environments characteristic of Type Ia supernovae capable of producing both calcium and iron-group elements in arbitrary ratios, depending primarily on the proximity of the interaction which acts as a strong moderator of nucleosynthesis. Here, we explore the effects of black hole spin and spin-orbital alignment on burn-product synthesis to determine whether they might also be capable of moderating reactive flows. When normalized to equivalent impact penetration, accounting for frame-dragging corrections, the influence of spin is weak, no more than 25% as measured by nuclear energy release and mass of burn products, even for near maximally rotating black holes. Stars on prograde trajectories approach closer to the black hole and produce significantly more unbound debris and iron-group elements than is possible by encounters with nonrotating black holes or by retrograde orbits, at more than 50% mass conversion efficiency. The debris contains several radioisotopes, most notably 56Ni, made in amounts that produce subluminous (but still observable) light curves compared to branch-normal SNe Ia.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  3. College of Charleston, Charleston, SC (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1577239
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-777261
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357; 970929; TRN: US2102137
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-07NA27344
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 885; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; Black holes; White dwarfs; Black hole physics; Hydrodynamics; Explosive nucleosynthesis

Citation Formats

Anninos, Peter, Hoffman, Robert D., Grewal, Manvir, Lavell, Michael J., and Fragile, P. Chris. Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Relativistic Encounters with Rotating Intermediate Mass Black Holes. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab4ae0.
Copy to clipboard
Anninos, Peter, Hoffman, Robert D., Grewal, Manvir, Lavell, Michael J., & Fragile, P. Chris. Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Relativistic Encounters with Rotating Intermediate Mass Black Holes. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab4ae0
Copy to clipboard
Anninos, Peter, Hoffman, Robert D., Grewal, Manvir, Lavell, Michael J., and Fragile, P. Chris. Fri . "Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Relativistic Encounters with Rotating Intermediate Mass Black Holes". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab4ae0. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577239.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1577239,
title = {Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Relativistic Encounters with Rotating Intermediate Mass Black Holes},
author = {Anninos, Peter and Hoffman, Robert D. and Grewal, Manvir and Lavell, Michael J. and Fragile, P. Chris},
abstractNote = {We present results from general relativistic calculations of nuclear ignition in white dwarf stars triggered by near encounters with rotating intermediate mass black holes with different spin and alignment parameters. These encounters create thermonuclear environments characteristic of Type Ia supernovae capable of producing both calcium and iron-group elements in arbitrary ratios, depending primarily on the proximity of the interaction which acts as a strong moderator of nucleosynthesis. Here, we explore the effects of black hole spin and spin-orbital alignment on burn-product synthesis to determine whether they might also be capable of moderating reactive flows. When normalized to equivalent impact penetration, accounting for frame-dragging corrections, the influence of spin is weak, no more than 25% as measured by nuclear energy release and mass of burn products, even for near maximally rotating black holes. Stars on prograde trajectories approach closer to the black hole and produce significantly more unbound debris and iron-group elements than is possible by encounters with nonrotating black holes or by retrograde orbits, at more than 50% mass conversion efficiency. The debris contains several radioisotopes, most notably 56Ni, made in amounts that produce subluminous (but still observable) light curves compared to branch-normal SNe Ia.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab4ae0},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
number = 2,
volume = 885,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Fri Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab4ae0
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 4 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Tidal disruption of a white dwarf by a black hole: the diversity of nucleosynthesis, explosion energy, and the fate of debris streams
journal, March 2018

  • Kawana, Kojiro; Tanikawa, Ataru; Yoshida, Naoki
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 477, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty842

Tidal Disruptions of White Dwarfs from Ultra-Close Encounters with Intermediate-Mass Spinning Black Holes
journal, March 2012

Ultra-Close Encounters of Stars with Massive Black Holes: Tidal Disruption Events with Prompt Hyperaccretion
journal, May 2015

[ITAL]Hubble Space Telescope[/ITAL] Evidence for an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster M15. II. Kinematic Analysis and Dynamical Modeling
journal, December 2002

  • Gerssen, Joris; van der Marel, Roeland P.; Gebhardt, Karl
  • The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 124, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1086/344584

Astrophysical Reaction Rates From Statistical Model Calculations
journal, May 2000

  • Rauscher, Thomas; Thielemann, Friedrich-Karl
  • Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables, Vol. 75, Issue 1-2
  • DOI: 10.1006/adnd.2000.0834

A 20,000 [ITAL]M[/ITAL][TINF]⊙[/TINF] Black Hole in the Stellar Cluster G1
journal, October 2002

  • Gebhardt, Karl; Rich, R. M.; Ho, Luis C.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 578, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/342980

Black Hole Spin Evolution
journal, February 2004

  • Gammie, Charles F.; Shapiro, Stuart L.; McKinney, Jonathan C.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 602, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/380996

Tidal Disruption and Ignition of White Dwarfs by Moderately Massive Black Holes
journal, March 2009

Dynamics of an affine star model in a black hole tidal field
journal, June 1986

  • Luminet, J. -P.; Carter, B.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 61
  • DOI: 10.1086/191113

Nucleosynthesis in Early Supernova Winds. II. The Role of Neutrinos
journal, June 2006

  • Pruet, J.; Hoffman, R. D.; Woosley, S. E.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 644, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/503891

Disk-Accretion onto a Black Hole. II. Evolution of the Hole
journal, July 1974

  • Thorne, Kip S.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 191
  • DOI: 10.1086/152991

ANALYTICAL EXPRESSIONS FOR LIGHT CURVES OF ORDINARY AND SUPERLUMINOUS TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE
journal, August 2015

Neutrino-Induced Nucleosynthesis of A > 64 Nuclei: The ν p Process
journal, April 2006

Chandra X-ray constraints on the candidate Ca-rich gap transient SN 2016hnk
journal, January 2018

  • Sell, P. H.; Arur, K.; Maccarone, T. J.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 475, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/sly011

Numerical Simulations of Optically Thick Accretion onto a Black Hole. i. Spherical case
journal, June 2012

  • Fragile, P. Chris; Gillespie, Anna; Monahan, Timothy
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 201, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/201/2/9

An Intermediate‐Mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster G1: Improved Significance from New Keck and Hubble Space Telescope Observations
journal, December 2005

  • Gebhardt, Karl; Rich, R. M.; Ho, Luis C.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 634, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/497023

Numerical Simulations of Optically Thick Accretion onto a Black Hole. ii. Rotating flow
journal, October 2014

An Inexpensive Nuclear Energy Generation Network for Stellar Hydrodynamics
journal, July 2000

  • Timmes, F. X.; Hoffman, R. D.; Woosley, S. E.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 129, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/313407

Three-Dimensional Moving-Mesh Simulations of Galactic Center Cloud g2
journal, October 2012

Spontaneous Initiation of Detonations in White Dwarf Environments: Determination of Critical Sizes
journal, April 2009

  • Seitenzahl, Ivo R.; Meakin, Casey A.; Townsley, Dean M.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 696, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/696/1/515

Dynamical Bar-Mode Instability in Differentially Rotating Magnetized Neutron Stars
journal, December 2009

The Accuracy, Consistency, and Speed of an Electron‐Positron Equation of State Based on Table Interpolation of the Helmholtz Free Energy
journal, February 2000

  • Timmes, F. X.; Swesty, F. Douglas
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 126, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/313304

Conditions for Successful Helium Detonations in Astrophysical Environments
journal, June 2013

Optical Thermonuclear Transients from Tidal Compression of White Dwarfs as Tracers of the low end of the Massive Black hole mass Function
journal, February 2016

  • MacLeod, Morgan; Guillochon, James; Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 819, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/0004-637X/819/1/3

Shock waves in tidally compressed stars by massive black holes
journal, February 2008

On the theory of Type I supernovae
journal, May 1979

  • Arnett, W. D.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 230
  • DOI: 10.1086/182957

SDSS J160531.84+174826.1: A Dwarf Disk Galaxy with an Intermediate‐Mass Black Hole
journal, March 2007

  • Dong, Xiaobo; Wang, Tinggui; Yuan, Weimin
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 657, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/510899

Presupernova evolution of massive stars
journal, October 1978

  • Weaver, T. A.; Zimmerman, G. B.; Woosley, S. E.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 225
  • DOI: 10.1086/156569

Does Explosive Nuclear Burning Occur in Tidal Disruption Events of White Dwarfs by Intermediate-mass Black Holes?
journal, April 2017

  • Tanikawa, Ataru; Sato, Yushi; Nomoto, Ken’ichi
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 839, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa697d

Consequences of strong compression in tidal disruption events
journal, September 2013

  • Stone, Nicholas; Sari, Re'em; Loeb, Abraham
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 435, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stt1270

The Production of 44Ti and 60Co in Supernovae
journal, June 1996

  • Timmes, F. X.; Woosley, S. E.; Hartmann, D. H.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 464
  • DOI: 10.1086/177323

Calcium-rich gap transients: tidal detonations of white dwarfs?
journal, May 2015

  • Sell, P. H.; Maccarone, T. J.; Kotak, R.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 450, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv902

Tidal disruptions by rotating black holes: effects of spin and impact parameter
journal, June 2019

  • Gafton, Emanuel; Rosswog, Stephan
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 487, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz1530

Solar System Abundances and Condensation Temperatures of the Elements
journal, July 2003

  • Lodders, Katharina
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 591, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/375492

Nucleosynthesis in neutron-rich supernova ejecta
journal, October 1985

  • Hartmann, D.; Woosley, S. E.; El Eid, M. F.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 297
  • DOI: 10.1086/163580

Integration of Nuclear Reaction Networks for Stellar Hydrodynamics
journal, September 1999

  • Timmes, F. X.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 124, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/313257

Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (Mesa)
journal, December 2010

  • Paxton, Bill; Bildsten, Lars; Dotter, Aaron
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 192, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/192/1/3

REACTION RATE SENSITIVITY OF 44 Ti PRODUCTION IN MASSIVE STARS AND IMPLICATIONS OF A THICK TARGET YIELD MEASUREMENT OF 40 Ca(α, γ) 44 Ti
journal, May 2010

Relativistic Tidal Disruption and Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Intermediate-mass Black Holes
journal, September 2018

  • Anninos, Peter; Fragile, P. Chris; Olivier, Samuel S.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 865, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aadad9

CosmosDG: An hp -adaptive Discontinuous Galerkin Code for Hyper-resolved Relativistic MHD
journal, August 2017

  • Anninos, Peter; Bryant, Colton; Fragile, P. Chris
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 231, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/aa7ff5

Prospects for Observing and Localizing Gravitational-Wave Transients with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
journal, February 2016

  • Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.
  • Living Reviews in Relativity, Vol. 19, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1007/lrr-2016-1

Distinguishing spin-aligned and isotropic black hole populations with gravitational waves
journal, August 2017

  • Farr, Will M.; Stevenson, Simon; Miller, M. Coleman
  • Nature, Vol. 548, Issue 7668
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature23453

Cosmos++ : Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics on Unstructured Grids with Local Adaptive Refinement
journal, December 2005

  • Anninos, Peter; Fragile, P. Chris; Salmonson, Jay D.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 635, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/497294

Black Hole Spin via Continuum Fitting and the Role of Spin in Powering Transient Jets
journal, July 2013

  • McClintock, Jeffrey E.; Narayan, Ramesh; Steiner, James F.
  • Space Science Reviews, Vol. 183, Issue 1-4
  • DOI: 10.1007/s11214-013-0003-9

Tidal disruption of stars by black holes of 106–108 solar masses in nearby galaxies
journal, June 1988

Measuring Black Hole Spin Using X-Ray Reflection Spectroscopy
journal, August 2013

Tidal disruption and ignition of white dwarfs by moderately massive black holes
text, January 2008

Spontaneous Initiation of Detonations in White Dwarf Environments: Determination of Critical Sizes
text, January 2009

Numerical Simulations of Optically Thick Accretion onto a Black Hole - I. Spherical Case
text, January 2012

Measuring Black Hole Spin using X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy
text, January 2013

Conditions For Successful Helium Detonations In Astrophysical Environments
text, January 2013

Numerical Simulations of Optically Thick Accretion onto a Black Hole - II. Rotating Flow
text, January 2014

Calcium-Rich Gap Transients: Tidal Detonations of White Dwarfs?
text, January 2015

Distinguishing Spin-Aligned and Isotropic Black Hole Populations With Gravitational Waves
text, January 2017

Chandra X-ray Constraints on the Candidate Ca-rich Gap Transient SN 2016hnk
text, January 2017

Relativistic Tidal Disruption and Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Intermediate Mass Black Holes
text, January 2018

Black Hole Spin Evolution
text, January 2003

Nucleosynthesis in Early Supernova Winds II: The Role of Neutrinos
text, January 2005

    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Tidal Disruptions of White Dwarfs: Theoretical Models and Observational Prospects
    text, January 2020

      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: