Probes of the progenitors, engines and physics behind stellar collapse

Super-novas (SNs) are one of the most powerful explosions in the universe and astronomers have invoked the collapse of a stellar core down to a neutron star as a potential power source behind these cosmic blasts. The current paradigm behind core-collapse SN relies on convection in the region just above the newly formed neutron star. This engine was driven and confirmed by observations. We review this observational evidence, and the potential for further observational constraints in this paper.

Partial, Zombie, and Full Tidal Disruption of Stars by Supermassive Black Holes

We present long-duration numerical simulations of the tidal disruption of stars modeled with accurate stellar structures and spanning a range of pericenter distances, corresponding to cases where the stars are partially and completely disrupted. We substantiate the prediction that the late-time power-law index of the fallback rate n ∞ ≃ −5/3 for full disruptions, while for partial disruptions—in which the central part of the star survives the tidal encounter intact—we show that n ∞ ≃ −9/4. For the subset of simulations where the pericenter distance is close to that which delineates full from partial disruption, we find that a stellar core can reform after the star has been completely destroyed; for these events the energy of the zombie core is slightly positive, which results in late-time evolution from n ≃ −9/4 to n ≃ −5/3. We find that self-gravity can generate an n(t) that deviates from n ∞ by a small but significant amount for several years post-disruption. In one specific case with the stellar pericenter near the critical value, we find that self-gravity also drives the recollapse of the central regions of the debris stream into a collection of several cores while the rest of the stream remains relatively smooth. We also show that it is possible for the surviving stellar core in a partial disruption to acquire a circumstellar disk that is shed from the rapidly rotating core. Finally, we provide a novel analytical fitting function for the fallback rates that may also be useful in a range of contexts beyond tidal disruption events.

Spatially resolved properties of galaxies with a kinematically distinct core

Aims. Interacting galaxies show unique irregularities in their kinematic structures. By investigating the spatially resolved kinematics and stellar population properties of galaxies that demonstrate irregularities, we can paint a detailed picture of the formation and evolutionary processes that took place during their lifetimes. Methods. In this work, we focused on galaxies with a specific kinematic irregularity: a kinematically distinct stellar core (KDC). In particular, we considered counter-rotating galaxies in which the core and main body of are rotating in opposite directions. We visually identified 11 MaNGA galaxies with a KDC from their stellar kinematics, and we investigated their spatially resolved stellar and gaseous kinematic properties, namely the two-dimensional stellar and gaseous velocity and velocity-dispersion (σ) maps. Additionally, we examined the stellar population properties, as well as spatially resolved recent star formation histories, using the Dn4000 and Hδ gradients. Results. The galaxies display multiple off-centred symmetrical peaks in the stellar σ maps. The gaseous velocity and σ maps display regular properties. The stellar population properties and their respective gradients show differing properties depending on the results of the spatially resolved emission line diagnostics of the galaxies, with some but not all galaxies showing inside-out quenching. The star formation histories also largely differ based on the spatially resolved emission line diagnostics, but most galaxies show indications of recent star formation either in their outskirts or core. Conclusions. We find a distinct difference in kinematic and stellar population properties in galaxies with a counter-rotating stellar core, which depends on its classification using spatially resolved emission line diagnostics.

Characteristic time variability of gravitational-wave and neutrino signals from three-dimensional simulations of non-rotating and rapidly rotating stellar core collapse

ABSTRACT We present results from full general relativistic 3D hydrodynamics simulations of stellar core collapse of a 70 M⊙ star with spectral neutrino transport. To investigate the impact of rotation on non-axisymmetric instabilities, we compute three models by parametrically changing the initial strength of rotation. The most rapidly rotating model exhibits a transient development of the low-T/|W| instability with one-armed spiral flow at the early post-bounce phase. Subsequently, the two-armed spiral flow appears, which persists during the simulation time. The moderately rotating model also shows the growth of the low-T/|W| instability, but only with the two-armed spiral flow. In the non-rotating model, a vigorous activity of the standing accretion-shock instability (SASI) is only observed. The SASI is first dominated by the sloshing mode, which is followed by the spiral SASI until the black hole (BH) formation. We present a spectrogram analysis of the gravitational waves (GWs) and neutrinos, focusing on the time correlation. Our results show that characteristic time modulations in the GW and neutrino signals can be linked to the growth of the non-axisymmetric instabilities. We find that the degree of the protoneutron star (PNS) deformation, depending upon which modes of the non-axisymmetric instabilities develop, predominantly affects the characteristic frequencies of the correlated GW and neutrino signals. We point out that these signals would be simultaneously detectable by the current-generation detectors up to ∼10 kpc. Our findings suggest that the joint observation of GWs and neutrinos is indispensable for extracting information on the PNS evolution preceding the BH formation.

Physical, numerical, and computational challenges of modeling neutrino transport in core-collapse supernovae

The proposal that core collapse supernovae are neutrino driven is still the subject of active investigation more than 50 years after the seminal paper by Colgate and White. The modern version of this paradigm, which we owe to Wilson, proposes that the supernova shock wave is powered by neutrino heating, mediated by the absorption of electron-flavor neutrinos and antineutrinos emanating from the proto-neutron star surface, or neutrinosphere. Neutrino weak interactions with the stellar core fluid, the theory of which is still evolving, are flavor and energy dependent. The associated neutrino mean free paths extend over many orders of magnitude and are never always small relative to the stellar core radius. Thus, neutrinos are never always fluid like. Instead, a kinetic description of them in terms of distribution functions that determine the number density of neutrinos in the six-dimensional phase space of position, direction, and energy, for both neutrinos and antineutrinos of each flavor, or in terms of angular moments of these neutrino distributions that instead provide neutrino number densities in the four-dimensional phase-space subspace of position and energy, is needed. In turn, the computational challenge is twofold: (i) to map the kinetic equations governing the evolution of these distributions or moments onto discrete representations that are stable, accurate, and, perhaps most important, respect physical laws such as conservation of lepton number and energy and the Fermi–Dirac nature of neutrinos and (ii) to develop efficient, supercomputer-architecture-aware solution methods for the resultant nonlinear algebraic equations. In this review, we present the current state of the art in attempts to meet this challenge.

Thermal luminosities of cooling neutron stars

ABSTRACT Ages and thermal luminosities of neutron stars, inferred from observations, can be interpreted with the aid of the neutron star cooling theory to gain information on the properties of superdense matter in neutron-star interiors. We present a survey of estimated ages, surface temperatures, and thermal luminosities of middle-aged neutron stars with relatively weak or moderately strong magnetic fields, which can be useful for these purposes. The catalogue includes results selected from the literature, supplemented with new results of spectral analysis of a few cooling neutron stars. The data are compared with the theory. We show that overall agreement of theoretical cooling curves with observations improves substantially for models where neutron superfluidity in stellar core is weak.

Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics versus turbulence II: Which is the dominant process in stellar core formation?

ABSTRACT Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is the dominant process. We investigate the effect of magnetic fields (ideal and non-ideal) and turbulence (sub- and transsonic) on the formation of protostars by following the gravitational collapse of 1 M⊙ gas clouds through the first hydrostatic core to stellar densities. The clouds are imposed with both rotational and turbulent velocities, and are threaded with a magnetic field that is parallel/antiparallel or perpendicular to the rotation axis; we investigate two rotation rates and four Mach numbers. The initial radius and mass of the stellar core are only weakly dependent on the initial parameters. In the models that include ideal MHD, the magnetic field strength implanted in the protostar at birth is much higher than observed, independent of the initial level of turbulence; only non-ideal MHD can reduce this strength to near or below the observed levels. This suggests that not only is ideal MHD an incomplete picture of star formation, but that the magnetic fields in low mass stars are implanted later in life by a dynamo process. Non-ideal MHD suppresses magnetically launched stellar core outflows, but turbulence permits thermally launched outflows to form a few years after stellar core formation.