arXiv subjects

Alison M. Laird

Publications and source records attributed to Alison M. Laird.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Angular momentum drives proton-rich nucleosynthesis in hyperaccreting neutron stars in common envelopes

Interacting binaries can produce a wide range of exotic systems, including X-ray binaries and merging neutron stars, through a mass transfer phase called Common Envelope (CE) evolution. A CE phase can occur during rapid expansion as a star as it moves off the main sequence. If the engulfed star is a compact object (e.g. neutron star), a CE phase can lead to hyperaccretion onto the neutron star. Previous work focused on systems in which the accreting material has low angular momentum, studying turbulent outflows. This study investigates the impact of angular momentum on accreting material leading to the formation of an accretion disk. Disk accretion systems lead to very different nuclear burning conditions. This paper presents the results of nucleosynthesis modelling of material ejected from an accretion disk surrounding a 1.5 M$_{\odot}$ neutron star in a CE with a 15 M$_{\odot}$ companion. As material is accreted towards the neutron star, sufficient heating will occur to eject a fracton of the material back into the surrounding envelope, producing a nucleosynthetic yield signature that differs from other explosions. We find that significant mass fractions of rp-process products are synthesised, thereby providing another mechanism for rp-process contribution to galactic chemical evolution, following ejection of the CE. Furthermore, later stages of the CE evolution the accrete helium leading to alpha-rich, supernova-like nucleosynthesis, producing $^{44}$Ti and $^{56}$Ni. Further work on modelling both the accretion disk wind, and the companion envelope ejection, is vital to understand the contributions of these scenarios to chemical evolution.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Impact of Newly Measured Nuclear Reaction Rates on $^{26}$Al Ejected Yields from Massive Stars

Over the last three years, the rates of all the main nuclear reactions involving the destruction and production of $^{26}$Al in stars ($^{26}$Al(n, p)$^{26}$Mg, $^{26}$Al(n, $\alpha$)$^{23}$Na, $^{26}$Al(p, $\gamma$)$^{27}$Si and $^{25}$Mg(p, $\gamma$)$^{26}$Al) have been re-evaluated thanks to new high-precision experimental measurements of their cross sections at energies of astrophysical interest, considerably reducing the uncertainties in the nuclear physics affecting their nucleosynthesis. We computed the nucleosynthetic yields ejected by the explosion of a high-mass star (20 Msun, Z = 0.0134) using the FRANEC stellar code, considering two explosion energies, 1.2 10$^{51}$ erg and 3 10$^{51}$ erg. We quantify the change in the ejected amount of $^{26}$Al and other key species that is predicted when the new rate selection is adopted instead of the reaction rates from the STARLIB nuclear library. Additionally, the ratio of our ejected yields of 26Al to those of 14 other short-lived radionuclides (36Cl, 41Ca, 53Mn, 60Fe, 92Nb, 97Tc, 98Tc, 107Pd, 126Sn, 129I, 36Cs, 146Sm, 182Hf, 205Pb) are compared to early solar system isotopic ratios, inferred from meteorite measurements. The total ejected 26Al yields vary by a factor of ~3 when adopting the new rates or the STARLIB rates. Additionally, the new nuclear reaction rates also impact the predicted abundances of short-lived radionuclides in the early solar system relative to $^{26}$Al. However, it is not possible to reproduce all the short-lived radionuclide isotopic ratios with our massive star model alone, unless a second stellar source could be invoked, which must have been active in polluting the pristine solar nebula at a similar time of a core-collapse supernova.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2026

Propagating Uncertainties from Nuclear Physics to Gamma-rays in Core Collapse Supernovae

Nuclear yields are powerful probes of supernova explosions, their engines and their progenitors. In addition, as we improve our understanding of these explosions, we can use nuclear yields to probe dense matter and neutrino physics, both of which play a critical role in the central supernova engine. Especially with upcoming gamma-ray detectors that can directly detect radioactive isotopes out to increasing distances from gamma-rays emitted during their decay, nuclear yields have the potential to provide some of the most direct probes of supernova engines and stellar burning. To utilize these probes, we must understand and limit the uncertainties in their production. Uncertainties in the nuclear physics can be minimized by combining both laboratory experiments and nuclear theory. Similarly, astrophysical uncertainties caused by simplified explosion trajectories can be minimized by higher-fidelity stellar-evolution and supernova-engine models. This paper reviews the physics and astrophysics uncertainties in modeling nucleosynthetic yields, identifying the key areas of study needed to maximize the potential of supernova yields as probes of astrophysical transients and dense-matter physics.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

GRB 250702B: Discovery of a Gamma-Ray Burst from a Black Hole Falling into a Star

Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous electromagnetic events in the universe. Their prompt gamma-ray emission has typical durations between a fraction of a second and several minutes. A rare subset of these events have durations in excess of a thousand seconds, referred to as ultra-long gamma-ray bursts. Here, we report the discovery of the longest gamma-ray burst ever seen with a ~25,000 s gamma-ray duration, GRB 250702B, and characterize this event using data from four instruments in the InterPlanetary Network and the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image. We find a hard spectrum, subsecond variability, and high total energy, which are only known to arise from ultrarelativistic jets powered by a rapidly-spinning stellar-mass central engine. These properties and the extreme duration are together incompatible with all confirmed gamma-ray burst progenitors and nearly all models in the literature. This burst is naturally explained with the helium merger model, where a field binary ends when a black hole falls into a stripped star and proceeds to consume and explode it from within. Under this paradigm, GRB 250702B adds to the growing evidence that helium stars expand and that some ultra-long GRBs have similar evolutionary pathways as collapsars, stellar-mass gravitational wave sources, and potentially rare types of supernovae.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

The impact of wind mass loss on nucleosynthesis and yields of very massive stars at low metallicity

The chemical feedback from stellar winds in low metallicity (Z) environments is key for understanding the evolution of globular clusters and the early Universe. With disproportionate mass lost from the most massive stars (M > 100Msun), and an excess of such stars expected at the lowest metallicities, their contribution to the enrichment of the early pristine clusters could be significant. In this work, we examine the effect of mass loss at low metallicity on the nucleosynthesis and wind yields of (very) massive stars. We calculate stellar models with initial masses ranging from 30 to 500Msun during core Hydrogen and Helium burning phases, at four metallicities ranging from 20% Zsun down to 1% Zsun. The ejected masses and net yields are provided for each grid of models. While mass-loss rates decrease with Z, we find that not only are wind yields significant, but the nucleosynthesis is also altered due to the change in central temperatures and therefore also plays a role. We find that 80-300Msun models can produce large quantities of Na-rich and O-poor material, relevant for the observed Na-O anti-correlation in globular clusters.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

New Wolf-Rayet wind yields and nucleosynthesis of Helium stars

Strong metallicity-dependent winds dominate the evolution of core He-burning, classical Wolf-Rayet (cWR) stars, which eject both H and He-fusion products such as 14N, 12C, 16O, 19F, 22Ne and 23Na during their evolution. The chemical enrichment from cWRs can be significant. cWR stars are also key sources for neutron production relevant for the weak s-process. We calculate stellar models of cWRs at solar metallicity for a range of initial Helium star masses (12-50M), adopting the recent hydrodynamical wind rates from Sander & Vink (2020). Stellar wind yields are provided for the entire post-main sequence evolution until core O-exhaustion. While literature has previously considered cWRs as a viable source of the radioisotope 26Al, we confirm that negligible 26Al is ejected by cWRs since it has decayed to 26Mg or proton-captured to 27Al. However, in Paper I, Higgins et al. (2023) we showed that very massive stars eject substantial quantities of 26Al, among other elements including N, Ne, and Na, already from the zero-age-main-sequence. Here, we examine the production of 19F and find that even with lower mass-loss rates than previous studies, our cWR models still eject substantial amounts of 19F. We provide central neutron densities (Nn) of a 30M cWR compared with a 32M post-VMS WR and confirm that during core He-burning, cWRs produce a significant number of neutrons for the weak s-process via the 22Ne(alpha,n)25Mg reaction. Finally, we compare our cWR models with observed [Ne/He], [C/He] and [O/He] ratios of Galactic WC and WO stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2023

Stellar Wind Yields of Very Massive Stars

The most massive stars provide an essential source of recycled material for young clusters and galaxies. While very massive stars (VMS, M>100M) are relatively rare compared to O stars, they lose disproportionately large amounts of mass already from the onset of core H-burning. VMS have optically thick winds with elevated mass-loss rates in comparison to optically thin standard O-star winds. We compute wind yields and ejected masses on the main sequence, and we compare enhanced mass-loss rates to standard ones. We calculate solar metallicity wind yields from MESA stellar evolution models in the range 50 - 500M, including a large nuclear network of 92 isotopes, investigating not only the CNO-cycle, but also the Ne-Na and Mg-Al cycles. VMS with enhanced winds eject 5-10 times more H-processed elements (N, Ne, Na, Al) on the main sequence in comparison to standard winds, with possible consequences for observed anti-correlations, such as C-N and Na-O, in globular clusters. We find that for VMS 95% of the total wind yields is produced on the main sequence, while only ~5% is supplied by the post-main sequence. This implies that VMS with enhanced winds are the primary source of 26Al, contrasting previous works where classical Wolf-Rayet winds had been suggested to be responsible for Galactic 26Al enrichment. Finally, 200M stars eject 100 times more of each heavy element in their winds than 50M stars, and even when weighted by an IMF their wind contribution is still an order of magnitude higher than that of 50M stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2019

Nucleosynthetic Yields from Neutron Stars Accreting in Binary Common Envelopes

Massive-star binaries can undergo a phase where one of the two stars expands during its advanced evolutionary stage as a giant and envelops its companion, ejecting the hydrogen envelope and tightening its orbit. Such a common envelope phase is required to tighten the binary orbit in the formation of many of the observed X-ray binaries and merging compact binary systems. In the formation scenario for neutron star binaries, the system might pass through a phase where a neutron star spirals into the envelope of its giant star companion. These phases lead to mass accretion onto the neutron star. Accretion onto these common-envelope-phase neutron stars can eject matter that has undergone burning near to the neutron star surface. This paper presents nucleosynthetic yields of this ejected matter, using population synthesis models to study the importance of these nucleosynthetic yields in a galactic chemical evolution context. Depending on the extreme conditions in temperature and density found in the accreted material, both proton-rich and neutron-rich nucleosynthesis can be obtained, with efficient production of neutron rich isotopes of low Z material at the most extreme conditions, and proton rich isotopes, again at low Z, in lower density models. Final yields are found to be extremely sensitive to the physical modeling of the accretion phase. We show that neutron stars accreting in binary common envelopes might be a new relevant site for galactic chemical evolution, and therefore more comprehensive studies are needed to better constrain nucleosynthesis in these objects.

astro-ph.SR↗