arXiv subjects

Luca Boccioli

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Boccioli.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Explodability matters: how realistic neutrino-driven explosions change explosive nucleosynthesis yields

Explosive nucleosynthesis is affected by many uncertainties, particularly regarding assumptions and prescriptions adopted during the evolution of the star. Moreover, simple explosion models are often used in the literature, which can introduce large errors in the assumed explosion energy and mass cut. In this paper, our goal is to analyze the explosion properties and nucleosynthesis of a large range of progenitors from three different stellar evolution codes: FRANEC, KEPLER, and MESA. In particular, we will show the differences between the neutrino-driven explosions simulated in this work with the much simpler bomb and piston models that are typically widely used in the literature. We will then focus on the impact of different explodabilities and different explosion dynamics on the nucleosynthetic yields. We adopt the neutrino-driven core-collapse supernova explosion code GR1D+, i.e. a spherically symmetric model with state-of-the-art microphysics and neutrino transport and a time-dependent mixing-length model for neutrino-driven convection. We carry out explosions up to several seconds after bounce, and then calculate the nucleosynthetic yields with the post-processing code SkyNet. We find that our 1D+ simulations yield explosion energies and remnant masses in agreement with observations of type II-P, IIb, and Ib supernovae, as well as with the most recent 3D simulations of the explosion. We provide a complete set of yields for all the stars simulated, including rotating, low-metallicity, and binary progenitors. Finally, we find that piston and bomb models, compared to more realistic neutrino-driven explosions, can artificially increase the production of Fe-peak elements, whereas the different explodability tends to cause discrepancies in the lighter elements.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Production of heavy $α$-elements and $^{44}$Ti in Cas A: comparison to abundances from 1D core-collapse supernova models and evidence for Carbon-Oxygen shell mergers

The merger between the carbon (C) and oxygen (O) shells hours to days before the collapse of a massive star significantly changes its nucleosynthesis, which is reflected in the elemental ratios observed in supernova remnants (SNRs). We present a nucleosynthesis study of $^{44}$Ti production in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), highlighting large silicon (Si), sulfur (S), calcium (Ca), and, most importantly, argon (Ar) to neon (Ne) ratios as diagnostics for carbon-oxygen (C--O) shell mergers. We compare yields from eight different sets of CCSNe models to observations of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), and show that C--O shell mergers are consistently the models that best match X-ray and infrared observations. These models produce high Ar/Ne ratios ($\gtrsim 0.1$), due to $^{20}$Ne depletion and production of $^{36}$Ar and $^{38}$Ar, while lower ratios are obtained from non-merger cases. Based on the Ar/Ne diagnostic, we compare the range of expected $^{44}$Ti produced by C--O shell mergers, which is up to $\sim 20 - 30 \%$ of the overall $^{44}$Ti, but expected to be located outside the reverse shock. Based on the sets of models considered, the photon flux expected from the $^{44}$Ti synthesized in the C--O shell merger in Cas A is below the $NuSTAR$ and $COSI$ detection limits, compatible with current limits locating most of the $^{44}$Ti interior to the reverse shock, but might be detectable from proposed missions like $ASCENT$. Finally, for the SNR of 1987A, a dominant C--O merger origin of the observed $^{44}$Ti is unlikely based on the observed redshift in its $^{44}$Ti line.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Neutrino Heating in 1D, 2D, and 3D core-collapse supernovae: characterizing the explosion of high-compactness stars

Massive stars can end their lives with a successful supernova explosion (leaving behind a neutron star or, more rarely, a black hole), or a failed explosion that leaves behind a black hole. The density structure of the pre-collapse progenitor star already encodes much of the information regarding the outcome and properties of the explosion. However, the complexity of the collapse and subsequent shock expansion phases prevents drawing a straightforward connection between the pre-collapse and post-explosion properties. In order to derive such a connection several explodability studies have been performed in recent years. However, different studies can predict different explosion outcomes. In this article, we show how compactness, which is related to the average density of the star's core, has an important role in determining the efficiency of neutrino heating, and therefore the outcome of the explosion. Commonly, high-compactness progenitors are assumed to yield failed explosions, due to their large mass accretion rates, preventing the shock from expanding. We show by analyzing $\sim$ 150 2D FLASH and Fornax simulations and 20 3D Fornax simulations that this is not the case. Instead, due to the rapid increase of neutrino heating with compactness, high-compactness progenitors lead to successful shock revival. We also show that 1D+ simulations that include $ν$-driven convection using a mixing-length theory approach correctly reproduce this trend. Finally, we compare 1D+ models, which we show can reproduce some aspects of multi-D simulations with reasonable accuracy, with other widely used 1D models in the literature.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Quantifying the Impact of the Si/O Interface in CCSN Explosions Using the Force Explosion Condition

The explosion mechanism of a core-collapse supernova is a complex interplay between neutrino heating and cooling (including the effects of neutrino-driven convection), the gravitational potential, and the ram pressure of the infalling material. To analyze the post-bounce phase of a supernova, one can use the generalized Force Explosion Condition (FEC+), which succinctly formalizes the interplay among these four phenomena in an analytical condition, consistent with realistic simulations. In this paper, we use the FEC+ to study the post-bounce phase of 341 spherically symmetric simulations, where convection is included through a time-dependent mixing length approach. We find that the accretion of the Si/O interface through the expanding shock can significantly change the outcome of the supernova by driving the FEC+ above the explosion threshold. We systematically explore this by (i) artificially smoothing the pre-supernova density profile, and (ii) artificially varying the mixing length. In both cases, we find that large-enough density contrasts at the Si/O interface lead to successful shock revival only if the FEC+ is already close to the explosion threshold. Furthermore, we find that the accretion of the Si/O interface has a substantial effect on the critical condition for supernova explosions, contributing between 5\% and 15\%, depending on how pronounced the density contrast at the interface is. Earlier studies showed that convection affects the critical condition by 25--30\%, which demonstrates that the accretion of the Si/O interface through the shock can play a nearly comparable role in influencing shock dynamics.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Remnant masses from 1D+ core-collapse supernovae simulations: bimodal neutron star mass distribution and black holes in the low-mass gap

The explosion of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) is an extremely challenging problem, and there are still large uncertainties regarding which stars lead to successful explosions that leave behind a neutron star, and which ones will form a black hole instead. In this paper, we simulate 341 progenitors at three different metallicities using spherically symmetric simulations that include neutrino-driven convection via a mixing-length theory. We use these simulations to improve previously derived explosion criteria based on the density and entropy profiles of the pre-supernova progenitor. We also provide numerical fits to calculate the final mass of neutron stars based on either compactness, the location of the Si/Si-O interface, or the Chandrasekhar mass. The neutron star birth mass distribution derived from our 1D+ simulations is bimodal, contrary to what the most popular 1D CCSN simulations have shown so far. We compare the theoretically derived neutron star mass distributions with the observed ones and discuss potential implications for population synthesis studies. We also analyze the black hole mass distribution predicted by our simulations. To be consistent with current models of matter ejection in failed SNe, a large fraction of the envelope must be expelled, leading to small black holes in the low-mass gap. One black hole in this mass region has recently been observed in the GW230529 event by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration. Our results naturally agree with this detection, which the most popular prescriptions for explodability and remnant masses are not able to reproduce. In general, we find that the explosion outcome and mass of the remnant strongly depend on the pre-collapse structure of the progenitor. However, their dependence on the initial mass of the star and the mass of the CO core is highly uncertain and non-linear.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

The physics of Core-Collapse Supernovae: explosion mechanism and explosive nucleosynthesis

Recent developments in multi-dimensional simulations of core-collapse supernovae have considerably improved our understanding of this complex phenomenon. In addition to that, one-dimensional (1D) studies have been employed to study the explosion mechanism and its causal connection to the pre-collapse structure of the star, as well as to explore the vast parameter space of supernovae. Nonetheless, many uncertainties still affect the late stages of the evolution of massive stars, their collapse, and the subsequent shock propagation. In this review, we will briefly summarize the state-of-the-art of both 1D and 3D simulations and how they can be employed to study the evolution of massive stars, supernova explosions, and shock propagation, focusing on the uncertainties that affect each of these phases. Finally, we will illustrate the typical nucleosynthesis products that emerge from the explosion.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

Explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae: role of the Si/O interface

We present a simple criterion to predict the explodability of massive stars based on the density and entropy profiles before collapse. If a pronounced density jump is present near the Si/Si-O interface, the star will likely explode. We develop a quantitative criterion by using $\sim 1300$ 1D simulations where $ν$-driven turbulence is included via time-dependent mixing-length theory. This criterion correctly identifies the outcome of the supernova more than $90 \%$ of the time. We also find no difference in how this criterion performs on two different sets of progenitors, evolved using two different stellar evolution codes: FRANEC and KEPLER. The explodability as a function of mass of the two sets of progenitors is very different, showing: (i) that uncertainties in the stellar evolution prescriptions influence the predictions of supernova explosions; (ii) the most important properties of the pre-collapse progenitor that influence the explodability are its density and entropy profiles. We highlight the importance that $ν$-driven turbulence plays in the explosion by comparing our results to previous works.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Effect of the Nuclear Equation of State on Relativistic-Turbulence Induced Core-Collapse Supernovae

The nuclear equation of state is an important component in the evolution of core collapse supernovae. In this paper we make a survey of various equations of state in the literature and analyze their effect on spherical core-collapse models in which the effects of three-dimensional turbulence is modeled by a general relativistic formulation of Supernova Turbulence in Reduced dimensionality (STIR). We show that the viability of the explosion is quite EOS dependent and that it best correlates with the early-time interior entropy density of the proto-neutron star. We check that this result is not progenitor dependent, although low-mass progenitors show different explosion properties, due to the different pre-collapse nuclear composition. Larger central entropies also induce more vigorous proto-neutron-star convection in our one-dimensional turbulence model, as well as a wider convective layer.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

General Relativistic Neutrino-Driven Turbulence in One-Dimensional Core-Collapse Supernovae

Convection and turbulence in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are inherently three-dimensional in nature. However, 3D simulations of CCSNe are computationally demanding. Thus, it is valuable to modify simulations in spherical symmetry to incorporate 3D effects using some parametric model. In this paper, we report on the formulation and implementation of general relativistic (GR) neutrino-driven turbulent convection in the spherically symmetric core-collapse supernova code \texttt{GR1D}. This is based upon the recently proposed method of Supernova Turbulence in Reduced-dimensionality (\textit{STIR}) in Newtonian simulations from \cite{Couch2020_STIR}. When the parameters of this model are calibrated to 3D simulations, we find that our GR formulation of \textit{STIR} requires larger turbulent eddies to achieve a shock evolution similar to the original \textit{STIR} model. We also find that general relativity may alter the correspondence between progenitor mass and successful vs.~failed explosions.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

New Insights into Uncertainties in the Relic Neutrino Background and Effects from the Nuclear Equation of State

We review the computation of and associated uncertainties in the current understanding of the relic neutrino background due to core-collapse supernovae, black hole formation and neutron-star merger events. We consider the current status of uncertainties due to the nuclear equation of state (EoS), the progenitor masses, the source supernova neutrino spectrum, the cosmological star formation rate, the stellar initial mass function, neutrino oscillations, and neutrino self-interactions. We summarize the current viability of future neutrino detectors to distinguish the nuclear EoS and the temperature of supernova neutrinos via the detected relic supernova neutrino spectrum.

astro-ph.HE↗