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Alexander Heger

Publications and source records attributed to Alexander Heger.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Neutron star kicks plus rockets as a mechanism for forming wide low-eccentricity neutron star binaries

Recent neutron star surface observations corroborate a long-standing theory that neutron stars may be accelerated over extended periods after their birth. We analyze how these prolonged rocket-like accelerations, combined with rapid birth kicks, impact binary orbits. We find that even a small contribution of rocket kicks combined with instantaneous natal kicks can allow binaries to reach period--eccentricity combinations unattainable in standard binary evolution models. We propose these kick + rocket combinations as a new channel to form wide low-eccentricity neutron star binaries such as Gaia NS1, as well as inducing stellar mergers months to years after a supernova to cause peculiar high-energy transients.

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Partial tidal disruption events: The elixir of life

In our Galactic Center, about 10,000 to 100,000 stars are estimated to have survived tidal disruption events, resulting in partially disrupted remnants. These events occur when a supermassive black hole (SMBH) tidally interacts with a star, but not enough to completely disrupt the star. We use the 1D stellar evolution code Kepler and the 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics code Phantom to model the tidal disruption of 1, 3, and 10 solar mass stars at zero-age (ZAMS), middle-age (MAMS), and terminal-age main-sequence (TAMS). We map the disruption remnants into Kepler in order to understand their post-distribution evolution. We find distinct characteristics in the remnants, including increased radius, rapid core rotation, and differential rotation in the envelope. The remnants undergo composition mixing that affects their stellar evolution. Whereas the remnants formed by disruption of ZAMS models evolve similarly to unperturbed models of the same mass, for MAMS and TAMS stars, the remnants have higher luminosity and effective temperature. Potential observational signatures include peculiarities in nitrogen and carbon abundances, higher luminosity, rapid rotation, faster evolution, and unique tracks in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

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Spectacular nucleosynthesis from early massive stars

Stars formed with initial mass over 50 Msun are very rare today, but they are thought to be more common in the early universe. The fates of those early, metal-poor, massive stars are highly uncertain. Most are expected to directly collapse to black holes, while some may explode as a result of rotationally powered engines or the pair-creation instability. We present the chemical abundances of J0931+0038, a nearby low-mass star identified in early followup of SDSS-V Milky Way Mapper, which preserves the signature of unusual nucleosynthesis from a massive star in the early universe. J0931+0038 has relatively high metallicity ([Fe/H] = -1.76 +/- 0.13) but an extreme odd-even abundance pattern, with some of the lowest known abundance ratios of [N/Fe], [Na/Fe], [K/Fe], [Sc/Fe], and [Ba/Fe]. The implication is that a majority of its metals originated in a single extremely metal-poor nucleosynthetic source. An extensive search through nucleosynthesis predictions finds a clear preference for progenitors with initial mass > 50 Msun, making J0931+0038 one of the first observational constraints on nucleosynthesis in this mass range. However the full abundance pattern is not matched by any models in the literature. J0931+0038 thus presents a challenge for the next generation of nucleosynthesis models and motivates study of high-mass progenitor stars impacted by convection, rotation, jets, and/or binary companions. Though rare, more examples of unusual early nucleosynthesis in metal-poor stars should be found in upcoming large spectroscopic surveys.

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On the Core-Collapse Supernova Explanation for LAMOST J1010+2358

Low-metallicity very massive stars with an initial mass of $\sim 140$--$260\, {\rm M_\odot}$ are expected to end their lives as pair-instability supernovae (PISNe). The abundance pattern resulting from a PISN differs drastically from regular core-collapse supernova (CCSN) models and is expected to be seen in very metal-poor (VMP) stars of ${\rm[Fe/H]}\lesssim -2$. Despite the routine discovery of many VMP stars, the unique abundance pattern expected from PISNe has not been unambiguously detected. The recently discovered VMP star LAMOST J1010+2358, however, shows a peculiar abundance pattern that is remarkably well fit by a PISN, indicating the potential first discovery of a bonafide star born from gas polluted by a PISN. In this paper, we study the detailed nucleosynthesis in a large set of models of CCSN of Pop III and Pop II star of metallicity ${\rm[Fe/H]}=-3$ with masses ranging from $12$--$30\,{\rm M_\odot}$. We find that the observed abundance pattern in LAMOST J1010+2358 can be fit at least equally well by CCSN models of $\sim 12$--$14\,{\rm M_\odot}$ that undergo negligible fallback following the explosion. The best-fit CCSN models provide a fit that is even marginally better than the best-fit PISN model. We conclude the measured abundance pattern in LAMOST J1010+2358 could have originated from a CCSN and therefore cannot be unambiguously identified with a PISN given the set of elements measured in it to date. We identify key elements that need to be measured in future detections in stars like LAMOST J1010+2358 that can differentiate between CCSN and PISN origin.

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Rapidly Rotating Massive Pop III stars: A Solution for High Carbon Enrichment in CEMP-no Stars

Very metal-poor stars that have $[\text{Fe}/\text{H}]<-2$ and that are enhanced in C relative to Fe ($[\text{C}/\text{Fe}]>+0.7$) but have no enhancement of heavy elements ($[\text{Ba}/\text{Fe}]<0$) are known as carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP-no) stars. These stars are thought to be produced from a gas that was polluted by the supernova (SN) ejecta of the very first generation (Pop III) massive stars. The very high enrichment of C ($A(\text{C})\gtrsim 6$) observed in many of the CEMP-no stars is difficult to explain by current models of SN explosions from massive Pop III stars when a reasonable dilution of the SN ejecta, that is consistent with detailed simulation of metal mixing in minihaloes, is adopted. We explore rapidly rotating Pop III stars that undergo efficient mixing and reach a quasi-chemically homogeneous (QCH) state. We find that QCH stars can eject large amounts of C in the wind and that the resulting dilution of the wind ejecta in the interstellar medium can lead to a C enrichment of $A(\text{C})\lesssim7.75$. The core of QCH stars can produce up to an order of magnitude of more C than non-rotating progenitors of similar mass and the resulting SN can lead to a C enrichment of $A(\text{C})\lesssim7$. Our rapidly rotating massive Pop III stars cover almost the entire range of $A(\text{C})$ observed in CEMP-no stars and are a promising site for explaining the high C enhancement in the early Galaxy. Our work indicates that a substantial fraction of Pop III stars were likely rapid rotators.

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Gravitational Waves from a Core g-Mode in Supernovae as Probes of the High-Density Equation of State

Using relativistic supernova simulations of massive progenitor stars with a quark-hadron equation of state (EoS) and a purely hadronic EoS, we identify a distinctive feature in the gravitational-wave signal that originates from a buoyancy-driven mode (g-mode) below the proto-neutron star convection zone. The mode frequency lies in the range $200\lesssim f\lesssim 800\,\text{Hz}$ and decreases with time. As the mode lives in the core of the proto-neutron star, its frequency and power are highly sensitive to the EoS, in particular the sound speed around twice saturation density.

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Discovery of millihertz Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the Low Mass X-Ray Binary XTE J1701$-$462 from a Search of the RXTE Legacy data set

We report the detection of millihertz quasi-periodic oscillations ($\mathrm{mHz}$ QPOs) from the low-mass X-ray binary XTE J1701$-$462. The discovery came from a search of the legacy data set of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, in order to detect the periodic signals in all observations of sources exhibiting thermonuclear bursts. We found that $47$ out of $860$ observations of XTE J1701$-$462; covering the 2006-7 outburst exhibits signals with a significance above the detection threshold, which was determined separately for each observation via a Monte Carlo approach. We chose the four strongest candidates, each with maximum power exceeding $4σ$ of the simulated wavelet noise power distribution, to demonstrate the properties of the QPOs. The frequencies of the signals in the four observations are $\sim 3.5\;\text{to}\;5.6\; \mathrm{mHz}$, and the fractional R.M.S. amplitudes vary between $0.74 \pm 0.05\,\%$ and $3.54 \pm 0.04\,\%$. Although previously reported signals in other sources typically disappear immediately before a burst, we do not observe this behaviour in XTE J1701$-$462. Instead, we found that the QPOs and bursts occurred in separate accretion regimes. When the persistent luminosity dropped near the end of the outburst, the source showed bursts and no QPOs were detected, which is the behaviour predicted by theory for the transition from stable to unstable burning. On the basis of this new detection, we reassess the cases for identifying these $\mathrm{mHz}$ QPOs in this and other sources as arising from marginally stable burning.

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Time-independent Simulations of Steady-State Accretion with Nuclear Burning

We construct a new formulation that allows efficient exploration of steady-state accretion processes onto compact objects. Accretion onto compact objects is a common scenario in astronomy. These systems serve as laboratories to probe the nuclear burning of the accreted matter. Conventional stellar evolution codes have been developed to simulate in detail the nuclear reactions on the compact objects. In order to follow the case of steady burning, however, using these codes can be very expensive as they are designed to follow a time-dependent problem. Here we introduce our new code $\textsc{StarShot}$, which resolves the structure of the compact objects for the case of stable thermonuclear burning, and is able to follow all nuclear species using an adaptive nuclear reaction network and adaptive zoning. Compared to dynamical codes, the governing equations can be reduced to time-independent forms under the assumption of steady-state accretion. We show an application to accreting low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) with accretion onto a neutron-star as compact object. The computational efficiency of $\textsc{StarShot}$ allows us to explore the parameter space for stable burning regimes, and can be used to generate initial conditions for time-dependent evolution models.

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Synthetic Light Curves and Spectra from a Self-Consistent 2D Simulation of an Ultra-strippped Supernova

Spectroscopy is an important tool for providing insights into the structure of core-collapse supernova explosions. We use the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code ARTIS to compute synthetic spectra and light curves based on a two-dimensional explosion model of an ultra-stripped supernova. These calculations are designed both to identify observable fingerprints of ultra-stripped supernovae and as a proof-of-principle for using synthetic spectroscopy to constrain the nature of stripped-envelope supernovae more broadly. We predict very characteristic spectral and photometric features for our ultra-stripped explosion model, but find that these do not match observed ultra-stripped supernova candidates like SN 2005ek. With a peak bolometric luminosity of $6.8\times10^{41}\,\mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$, a peak magnitude of $-15.9\,\mathrm{mag}$ in R-band, and $Δm_{15,\mathrm{R}}=3.50$, the model is even fainter and evolves even faster than SN 2005ek as the closest possible analogue in photometric properties. The predicted spectra are extremely unusual. The most prominent features are Mg II lines at 2,800 Angstrom and 4,500 Angstrom and the infrared Ca triplet at late times. The Mg lines are sensitive to the multi-dimensional structure of the model and are viewing-angle dependent. They disappear due to line blanketing by Fe group elements in a spherically averaged model with additional microscopic mixing. In future studies, multi-D radiative transfer calculations need to be applied to a broader range of models to elucidate the nature of observed Type Ib/c supernovae.

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Light Curves of Type IIP Supernovae from Neutrino-driven Explosions of Red Supergiants Obtained by a Semi-analytic Approach

Type IIP supernovae (SNe IIP) mark the explosive death of red supergiants (RSGs), evolved massive stars with an extended hydrogen envelope. They are the most common supernova type and allow for benchmarking of supernova explosion models by statistical comparison to observed population properties rather than comparing individual models and events. We construct a large synthetic set of SNe IIP light curves (LCs) using the radiation hydrodynamics code \texttt{SNEC} and explosion energies and nickel masses obtained from an efficient semi-analytic model for two different sets of stellar progenitor models. By direct comparison we demonstrate that the semi-analytic model yields very similar predictions as alternative phenomenological explosion models based on one-dimensional simulations. We find systematic differences of a factor of $\mathord{\sim}2$ in plateau luminosities between the two progenitor sets due to different stellar radii, which highlights the importance of the RSG envelope structure as a major uncertainty in interpreting LCs of SNe IIP. A comparison to a volume-limited sample of observed SNe IIP shows decent agreement in plateau luminosity, plateau duration and nickel mass for at least one of the synthetic LC sets. The models, however, do not produce sufficient events with very small nickel mass $M_\mathrm{Ni}<0.01\,M_\odot$ and predict an anticorrelation between plateau luminosity and plateau duration that is not present in the observed sample, a result that warrants further study. Our results suggest that a better understanding of RSG stellar structure is no less important for reliably explaining the light curves of SNe IIP than the explosion physics.

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Black holes as the end state of stellar evolution: Theory and simulations

The collapse of massive stars is one of the most-studied paths to black hole formation. In this chapter, we review black hole formation during the collapse of massive stars in the broader context of single and binary stellar evolution and the theory of supernova explosions. We provide a concise overview of the evolutionary channels that may lead to black hole formation -- the classical route of iron core collapse, collapse due to pair instability in very massive stars, and the hypothetical scenario of supermassive star collapse. We then review the current understanding of the parameter space for black hole formation and black hole birth properties that has emerged from theoretical and computational modelling of supernova explosions and transient observations. Finally, we discuss what the intricate interplay between stellar evolution, stellar explosions, and binary interactions implies for the formation of stellar-mass black holes.

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Measurement of $^{19}$F($p$,$γ$)$^{20}$Ne reaction suggests CNO break-out in first stars

The origin of calcium production in the first stars (Pop III stars), which formed out of the primordial matter of the Big Bang, and their fates, remain most fascinating mysteries in astrophysics. Advanced nuclear burning and supernovae were thought to be the dominant source of the Ca production seen in all stars. Here we report on a qualitatively different path to Ca production through break-out from the "warm" carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle. We extend direct measurement of the $^{19}$F($p$, $γ$)$^{20}$Ne break-out reaction down to an unprecedentedly low energy point of 186 keV and discover a key resonance at 225 keV. In the domain of astrophysical interest, at around 0.1 giga kelvin, this thermonuclear $^{19}$F($p$,$γ$)$^{20}$Ne rate is up to a factor of 7.4 larger than the previous recommended rate. Our stellar models show a stronger break-out during stellar hydrogen burning than thought before, and may reveal the nature of Ca production in Pop III stars imprinted on the oldest known ultra-iron poor star, SMSS0313-6708. This result from the China Jinping Underground Laboratory, the deepest laboratory in the world, offering an environment with extremely low cosmic-ray induced background, has far-reaching implications on our understanding of how the first stars evolve and die. Our rate showcases the impact that faint Pop III star supernovae can have on the nucleosynthesis observed in the oldest known stars and first galaxies, key mission targets of the James Webb Space Telescope.

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Can pre-supernova winds from massive stars enrich the interstellar medium with nitrogen at high redshift?

Understanding the nucleosynthetic origin of nitrogen and the evolution of the N/O ratio in the interstellar medium is crucial for a comprehensive picture of galaxy chemical evolution at high-redshift because most observational metallicity (O/H) estimates are implicitly dependent on the N/O ratio. The observed N/O at high-redshift shows an overall constancy with O/H, albeit with a large scatter. We show that these heretofore unexplained features can be explained by the pre-supernova wind yields from rotating massive stars (M$\gtrsim 10 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$, $v/v_{\rm{crit}} \gtrsim 0.4$). Our models naturally produce the observed N/O plateau, as well as the scatter at low O/H. We find the scatter to arise from varying star formation efficiency. However, the models that have supernovae dominated yields produce a poor fit to the observed N/O at low O/H. This peculiar abundance pattern at low O/H suggests that dwarf galaxies are most likely to be devoid of SNe yields and are primarily enriched by pre-supernova wind abundances.

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The Role of the Hadron-Quark Phase Transition in Core-Collapse Supernovae

The hadron-quark phase transition in quantum chromodyanmics has been suggested as an alternative explosion mechanism for core-collapse supernovae. We study the impact of three different hadron-quark equations of state (EoS) with first-order (DD2F\_SF, STOS-B145) and second-order (CMF) phase transitions on supernova dynamics by performing 97 simulations for solar- and zero-metallicity progenitors in the range of $14\texttt{-}100\,\text{M}_\odot$. We find explosions only for two low-compactness models ($14 \text{M}_\odot$ and $16\,\text{M}_\odot$) with the DD2F\_SF EoS, both with low explosion energies of $\mathord{\sim}10^{50}\,\mathrm{erg}$. These weak explosions are characterised by a neutrino signal with several mini-bursts in the explosion phase due to complex reverse shock dynamics, in addition to the typical second neutrino burst for phase-transition driven explosions. The nucleosynthesis shows significant overproduction of nuclei such as $^{90}\mathrm{Zr}$ for the $14\,\text{M}_\odot$ zero-metallicity model and $^{94}\mathrm{Zr}$ for the $16\,\text{M}_\odot$ solar-metallicity model, but the overproduction factors are not large enough to place constraints on the occurrence of such explosions. Several other low-compactness models using the DD2F\_SF EoS and two high-compactness models using the STOS EoS end up as failed explosions and emit a second neutrino burst. For the CMF EoS, the phase transition never leads to a second bounce and explosion. For all three EoS, inverted convection occurs deep in the core of the proto-compact star due to anomalous behaviour of thermodynamic derivatives in the mixed phase, which heats the core to entropies up to $4k_\text{B}/\text{baryon}$ and may have a distinctive gravitational wave signature, also for a second-order phase transition.

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Long-term evolution of post-explosion Helium-star Companions of Type Iax Supernovae

Supernovae of Type Iax (SNe Iax) are an accepted faint subclass of hydrogen-free supernovae. Their origin, the nature of the progenitor systems, however, is an open question. Recent studies suggest that the weak deflagration explosion of a near-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf in a binary system with a helium star donor could be the origin of SNe Iax. In this scenario, the helium star donor is expected to survive the explosion. We use the one-dimensional stellar evolution codes \textsc{MESA} and \textsc{Kepler} to follow the post-impact evolution of the surviving helium companion stars. The stellar models are based on our previous hydrodynamical simulations of ejecta-donor interaction, and we explore the observational characteristics of these surviving helium companions. We find that the luminosities of the surviving helium companions increase significantly after the impact: They could vary from $2\mathord,500\,\mathrm{L_{\odot}}$ to $16\mathord,000\,\mathrm{L_{\odot}}$ for a Kelvin-Helmholtz timescale of about $10^{4}\,\mathrm{yr}$. After the star reaches thermal equilibrium, it evolves as an O-type hot subdwarf (sdO) star and continues its evolution along the evolutionary track of a normal sdO star with the same mass. Our results will help to identify the surviving helium companions of SNe Iax in future observations and to place new constraints on their progenitor models.

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The Regulated NiCu Cycles with the new $^{57}$Cu(p,$γ$)$^{58}$Zn reaction rate and the Influence on Type-I X-Ray Bursts: GS 1826$-$24 Clocked Burster

During the X-ray bursts of GS 1826$-$24, "clocked burster", the nuclear reaction flow that surges through the rapid-proton capture process path has to pass through the NiCu cycles before reaching the ZnGa cycles that moderate the further extent of hydrogen burning in the region above germanium and selenium isotopes. The $^{57}$Cu(p,$γ$)$^{58}$Zn reaction located in the NiCu cycles plays an important role in influencing the burst light curves as found by Cyburt et al. (2016). We deduce the $^{57}$Cu(p,$γ$)$^{58}$Zn reaction rate based on the experimentally determined important nuclear structure information, isobaric-multiplet-mass equation, and large-scale shell model calculations. Based on the isobaric-multiplet-mass equation, we propose a possible order of $1^+_1$ and $2^+_3$ dominant resonance states and constrain the resonance energy of the $1^+_2$ state. The latter reduces the contribution of the $1^+_2$ dominant resonance state. The new reaction rate is up to a factor of four lower than the Forstner et al. (2001) rate recommended by JINA REACLIB v2.2 at the temperature regime sensitive to clocked bursts of GS 1826$-$24. Using the simulation from the one-dimensional implicit hydrodynamic code, KEPLER, to model the thermonuclear X-ray bursts of GS 1826$-$24 clocked burster, we find that the new $^{57}$Cu(p,$γ$)$^{58}$Zn coupled with the latest $^{56}$Ni(p,$γ$)$^{57}$Cu and $^{55}$Ni(p,$γ$)$^{56}$Cu reaction rates redistributes the reaction flow in the NiCu cycles and strongly influences the burst ash composition, whereas the $^{59}$Cu(p,$α$)$^{56}$Ni and $^{59}$Cu(p,$γ$)$^{60}$Zn reactions suppress the influence of the $^{57}$Cu(p,$γ$)$^{58}$Zn reaction and diminish the impact of nuclear reaction flow that by-passes the important $^{56}$Ni waiting point induced by the $^{55}$Ni(p,$γ$)$^{56}$Cu reaction on burst light curve.

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The Impact of the New $^{65\!}$As(p,$γ$)$^{66\!}$Se Reaction Rate on the Two-Proton Sequential Capture of $^{64}\!$Ge, Weak GeAs Cycles, and Type-I X-Ray Bursts such as the Clocked Burster GS 1826$-$24

We re-assess $^{65}$As(p,$γ$)$^{66}$Se reaction rates based on a set of proton thresholds of $^{66}$Se, $S_\mathrm{p}$($^{66}$Se), estimated from the experimental mirror nuclear masses, theoretical mirror displacement energies, and full $pf$-model space shell-model calculation. The self-consistent relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory is employed to obtain the mirror displacement energies with much reduced uncertainty, and thus reducing the proton-threshold uncertainty up to 161 keV compared to the AME2020 evaluation. Using the simulation instantiated by the one-dimensional multi-zone hydrodynamic code, KEPLER, that closely reproduces the observed GS 1826$-$24 clocked bursts, the present forward and reverse $^{65}$As(p,$γ$)$^{66}$Se reaction rates based on a selected $S_\mathrm{p}$($^{66}$Se) = 2.469$\pm$0.054 MeV, and the latest $^{22}$Mg($α$,p)$^{25}$Al, $^{56}$Ni(p,$γ$)$^{57}$Cu(p,$γ$)$^{58}$Zn, $^{55}$Ni(p,$γ$)$^{56}$Cu, and $^{64}$Ge(p,$γ$)$^{65}$As reaction rates, we find that though the GeAs cycles is weakly established in the rapid-proton capture process path, the $^{65}$As(p,$γ$)$^{66}$Se reaction still strongly characterizes the burst tail end due to the two-proton sequential capture on $^{64}$Ge, not found by Cyburt et al. (2016) sensitivity study. The $^{65}$As(p,$γ$)$^{66}$Se reaction influences the abundances of nuclei $A$ = 64, 68, 72, 76, and 80 up to a factor of 1.4. The new $S_\mathrm{p}$($^{66}$Se) and the inclusion of the updated $^{22}$Mg($α$,p)$^{25}$Al reaction rate increases the production of $^{12}$C up to a factor of $4.5$ that is not observable and could be the main fuel for superburst. The waiting point status of and two-proton sequential capture on $^{64}$Ge, weak-cycle feature of GeAs at region heavier than $^{64}$Ge, and impact of other possible $S_\mathrm{p}$($^{66}$Se) are also discussed.

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On the Formation and Interaction of Multiple Supermassive Stars in Cosmological Flows

Supermassive primordial stars with masses exceeding $\sim10^5\,M_{\odot}$ that form in atomically cooled halos are the leading candidates for the origin of high-redshift quasars with $z>6$. Recent numerical simulations, however, find that multiple accretion disks can form within a halo, each of which can host a supermassive star. Tidal interactions between the disks can gravitationally torque gas onto their respective stars and alter their evolution. Later, when two satellite disks collide, the two stars can come into close proximity. This may induce additional mass exchange between them. We investigate the co-evolution of supermassive stars in atomically-cooled halos driven by gravitational interactions between their disks. We find a remarkable diversity of evolutionary outcomes. The results depend on these interactions and how the formation and collapse times of the stars in the two disks are correlated. They range from co-evolution as main sequence stars to main sequence -- black hole pairs and black hole -- black hole mergers. We examine the evolution of these secondary supermassive stars in detail and discuss the prospects for binary interactions on much smaller scales after the disks merge within their host halos.

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