The Mechanism of Core-collapse Supernovae and the Ejection of Heavy Elements

The Mechanism of Core-Collapse Supernovae and the Ejection of Heavy

Some nuclear physics aspects of core-collapse supernovae

Here I review some nuclear physics aspects of core-collapse supernovae concerning neutrinos. Studies of neutrino emission and interactions in supernovae are crucial to our understanding of the explosion mechanism, the heavy element nucleosynthesis, and pulsar proper motions. I discuss the effects of reduced neutrino opacities in dense nuclear matter on supernova neutrino emission and their impl...

Jet Induced Supernovae: Hydrodynamics and Observational Consequences

Core collapse supernovae (SN) are the final stages of stellar evolution in massive stars during which the central region collapses, forms a neutron star (NS), and the outer layers are ejected. Recent explosion scenarios assumed that the ejection is due to energy deposition by neutrinos into the envelope but detailed models do not produce powerful explosions. There is mounting evidence for an as...

General Relativity and Neutrino - Driven Supernova Winds ∗

To date, detailed core-collapse supernova simulations have not succeeded in elucidating the explosion mechanism. But whatever the mechanism turns out to be, there will be a neutrino-heated outflow between the hot, newly-born neutron star and the outgoing supernova shock wave whose neutron richness, low density, and high temperature could provide promising conditions for the synthesis of heavy n...

A Kinetic Theory Model for Type II Core Collapse Supernovae

Motivated by the success of kinetic theory in the description of observables in intermediate and high energy heavy ion collisions, we use kinetic theory to model the dynamics of core collapse supernovae. The specific way that we employ kinetic theory to solve the relevant transport equations allows us to explicitly model the propagation of neutrinos and a full ensemble of nuclei and treat neutr...

Chemical Evolution of Heavy Elements in the Early Galaxy: Implications for Stellar Sources

An overview of the sources for heavy elements in the early Galaxy is given. It is shown that observations of abundances in metal-poor stars can be used along with a basic understanding of stellar models to guide the search for the source of the heavy r-process nuclei (r-nuclei). Observations show that this source produces very little of the elements from C through Zn including Fe. This strongly...