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S. I. Blinnikov

Publications and source records attributed to S. I. Blinnikov.

69 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

X-ray emission of young SN Ia remnants as a probe for an explosion model

We present results of hydrodynamical simulations of young supernova remnants. To model the ejecta, we use several models (discussed in literature) of type Ia supernova explosions with different abundances. Our hydro models are one-dimensional and spherically symmetrical, but they take into account ionization kinetics with all important processes. We include detailed calculations for the X-ray emission, allowing for time-dependent ionization and recombination. In particular, we compare the computed X-ray spectra with recent XMM-Newton observations of the Tycho SN remnant. Our goal is to find the most viable thermonuclear SN model that gives good fits to both these X-ray observations and typical SN Ia light curves.

astro-ph↗

Energy exchange inside SN ejecta and light curves of SNe Ia

A treatment of line opacity in expanding medium is most crucial for the light curve (LC) modeling of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Spectral lines are the main source of opacity inside SN Ia ejecta from ultraviolet through infrared range. Here we focus on the mean opacity for the energy equation. We solve the Boltzmann equation for photons in the comoving frame for a spherically-symmetrical flow. For rectangle line profiles we find an analytical expression for frequency averaged intensity and absorptive opacity. The results differ from previously known heuristic solutions. The LCs in the I-band are in better agreement with observations.

astro-ph↗

Relativity and c/sqrt{3}

We define the critical coordinate velocity v_c. A particle moving radially in Schwarzschild background with this velocity, v_c= c/sqrt 3, is neither accelerated, nor decelerated if gravitational field is weak, r_g << r, where r_g is the gravitational radius, while r is the current one. We find that the numerical coincidence of v_c with velocity of sound in ultrarelativistic plasma, u_s, is accidental, since two velocities are different if the number of spatial dimensions is not equal to 3

gr-qc↗

The origin of the high velocity circumstellar gas around SN 1998S

Modelling of high resolution Balmer line profiles in the early-time spectra of SN 1998S shows that the inferred fast (roughly 400 km/s) circumstellar (CS) gas on days 23 and 42 post-explosion is confined to a narrow, negative velocity gradient shell just above the photosphere. This gas may be identified with a slow (v < 40 km/s) progenitor wind accelerated at the ejecta-wind interface. In this scenario, the photosphere coincides with a cool dense shell formed in the reverse shock. Acceleration by radiation from the supernova or by a shock-accelerated relativistic particle precursor are both possible explanations for the observed fast CS gas. An alternative, equally plausible scenario is that the fast CS gas is accelerated within shocked clouds engulfed by the outer shock, as it propagates through the intercloud wind.

astro-ph↗

Supernova Ia: a Converging Delayed Detonation Wave

A model of a carbon-oxygen (C--O) presupernova core with an initial mass 1.33 M_\odot, an initial carbon mass fraction 0.27, and with an average mass growth-rate 5 x 10^{-7} M_\odot/yr due to accretion in a binary system was evolved from initial central density 10^9 g/cm^3, and temperature 2.05 x 10^8 K through convective core formation and its subsequent expansion to the carbon runaway at the center. The only thermonuclear reaction contained in the equations of evolution and runaway was the carbon burning reaction 12C + 12C with an energy release corresponding to the full transition of carbon and oxygen (with the same rate as carbon) into 56Ni. As a parameter we take α_c - a ratio of a mixing length to the size of the convective zone. In spite of the crude assumptions, we obtained a pattern of the runaway acceptable for the supernova theory with the strong dependence of its duration on α_c. In the variants with large enough values of α_c=4.0 x 10^{-3} and 3.0 x 10^{-3} the fuel combustion occurred from the very beginning as a prompt detonation. In the range of 2.0 x 10^{-3} >= α_c >= 3.0 x 10^{-4} the burning started as a deflagration with excitation of stellar pulsations with growing amplitude. Eventually, the detonation set in, which was activated near the surface layers of the presupernova (with m about 1.33 M_\odot) and penetrated into the star down to the deflagration front. Excitation of model pulsations and formation of a detonation front are described in detail for the variant with α_c=1.0 x 10^{-3}.

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Gamma-ray Bursts, Type Ib/c Supernovae and Star-forming Sites in Host Galaxies

The data on the location of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) relative to their host galaxies are used to derive the distribution of surface density of GRBs along the galaxy radius. It is shown that the gradient of GRB surface density changes abruptly near the half-light radius. In the central parts of galaxies the distribution of GRBs resembles closely the luminosity distribution, while in the outer parts the galactic surface brightness falls much steeper than the GRBs density. The radial distribution of type Ib/c supernovae is investigated on the basis of enlarged statistics. It is shown that SNe Ib/c do not differ significantly from other types of supernovae and their distribution is more similar to the one for recent star formation sites than that of GRBs. In spite of the poor statistics of GRBs, the difference in the distributions of active star formation regions and GRBs appears to be significant. We get the Kolmogorov-Smirnov probability P_ks of only 4% that GRBs and star-forming sites belong to the same distribution. The correlation of GRBs with the distribution of dark matter in the outer parts of galaxies is not excluded.

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Old models for Cygnus X-1 and AGN

Recently, there appeared many papers devoted to the modeling of X-ray properties of Cygnus X-1 and other black hole accretion disk candidates: e.g. J.Poutanen, J.Krolik, F.Ryde, MNRAS 292 (1997) L21; E.Agol, J.Krolik, ApJ 507 (1998) 304; A.Beloborodov, in ``High Energy Processes in Accreting Black Holes'', ASP Conf. Series, 161, (1999), p.295. The goal of this electronic publication is to draw attention to our old papers where many ideas of recent discussions were anticipated (hot coronae, Comptonization, photon damping of waves, particle acceleration and matter ejection from accretion disks with large scale poloidal magnetic fields, etc.)

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UV Light Curves of Thermonuclear Supernovae

Ultraviolet light curves are calculated for several thermonuclear supernova models using a multifrequency radiation hydrodynamic code. It is found that Chandrasekhar-mass models produce very similar light curves both for detonation and deflagration. Sub-Chandrasekhar-mass models essentially differ from ``normal'' Chandrasekhar ones regarding behaviour of their UV fluxes. Differences in absolute brightness and in shape of light curves of thermonuclear supernovae could be detectable up to 300 Mpc with modern UV space telescopes.

astro-ph↗

Thermonuclear Burning Regimes and the Use of SNe Ia in Cosmology

The calculations of the light curves of thermonuclear supernovae are carried out by a method of multi-group radiation hydrodynamics. The effects of spectral lines and expansion opacity are taken into account. The predictions for UBVI fluxes are given. The values of rise time for B and V bands found in our calculations are in good agreement with the observed values. We explain why our results for the rise time have more solid physical justification than those obtained by other authors. It is shown that small variations in the chemical composition of the ejecta, produced in the explosions with different regimes of nuclear burning, can influence drastically the light curve decline in the B band and, to a lesser extent, in the V band. We argue that recent results on positive cosmological constant Lambda, found from the high redshift supernova observations, could be wrong in the case of possible variations of the preferred mode of nuclear burning in the earlier Universe.

astro-ph↗

GRBs: when do blackbody spectra look like non-thermal ones?

We argue that a nonthermally looking spectrum of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) can be formed as a superposition of a set of thermal blackbody spectra. This superposition may be done by time integration which is present even in `time resolved' GRB spectroscopy. A nonthermal spectrum can be obtained also by the space integration which should take place unless all the emission comes from a plane front moving exactly towards the observer. We propose a model of the gamma-ray burst spectrum formation based on this idea. This model allows the GRB radiation to be optically thick and to have higher values of baryon load. Thus the latter is limited by the energy considerations only, and not by the condition of a small optical depth.

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The neutrino-induced neutron source in helium shell and r-process nucleosynthesis

The huge neutrino pulse that occurs during the collapse of a massive stellar core, is expected to contribute to the origination of a number of isotopes both of light chemical elements and heavy ones. It is shown that, in general, the heating of stellar matter due to the neutrino scattering off electrons and the heat released from the neutrino-helium breakup followed by the thermonuclear reactions should be taken into account. On the base of kinetic network, using all the important reactions up to Z=8, the main features and the time-dependent character of the neutrino- driven neutron flux are investigated. The time-dependent densities of free neutrons produced in helium breakup, Y_n(t), were used to calculate the r-process nucleosynthesis with another full kinetic network for 3200 nuclides. It was found that in the case of metal-deficient stars, Z < 0.01 Z(solar), the resulting density of free neutrons seems to be high enough to drive the r-process efficiently under favorable conditions. But it is impossible to obtain a sufficient amount of heavy nuclei in neutrino-induced r-process in a helium shell at radii R > R_cr \approx 10^9 cm. We speculate that to make the neutrino-induced r-process work efficiently in the shell, one has to invoke nonstandard presupernova models in which helium hopefully is closer to the collapsed core owing, for instance, to a large scale mixing or/and rotation and magnetic fields. Apart from this exotic possibility, the neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis in the helium shell is certainly not strong enough to explain the observed solar r-process abundances.

astro-ph↗

A quest for weak objects and for invisible stars

High quality spectra to be produced by SUBARU 8 meter telescope will be extremely valuable for numerous astronomical projects. Here I concentrate on two classical types of weak broad line objects -- distant supernovae and white dwarfs -- with emphasis of their importance for fundamental physics, not only for astronomy. With regard to recent results of MACHO experiment and HST weak star counts I discuss one exotic possibility: invisible stars made of the so called ``mirror'' matter.

astro-ph↗

A comparative modeling of supernova 1993J

The light curve of Supernova (SN) 1993J is calculated using two approaches to radiation transport as exemplified by the two computer codes, STELLA and EDDINGTON. Particular attention is paid to shock breakout and the photometry in the U, B, and V bands during the first 120 days. The hydrodynamical model, the explosion of a 13 Msun star which had lost most of its hydrogenic envelope to a companion, is the same in each calculation. The comparison elucidates differences between the approaches and also serves to validate the results of both. STELLA includes implicit hydrodynamics and is able to model supernova evolution at early times, before the expansion is homologous. STELLA also employs multi-group photonics and is able to follow the radiation as it decouples from the matter. EDDINGTON uses a different algorithm for integrating the transport equation, assumes homologous expansion, and uses a finer frequency resolution. Good agreement is achieved between the two codes only when compatible physical assumptions are made about the opacity. A new result for SN 1993J is a prediction of the continuum spectrum near the shock breakout (calculated by STELLA) which is superior to the results of other standard single energy group hydrocodes such as VISPHOT or TITAN. Based on the results of our independent codes, we discuss the uncertainties involved in the current time dependent models of supernova light curves.

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A mini-supernova model for optical afterglows of GRB

An energy deposition of \sim 10^{50} ergs into the exterior 10^{-3} M_\sun layers of a red giant is calculated to produce an optical phenomenon similar to afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRB) recently observed. This model can be realized if a GRB is generated by some mechanism in a close binary system. In contrast to a ``hypernova'' scenario for GRB recently proposed by Paczyński (1997), this model does not require a huge kinetic energy of the expanding shell to explain optical afterglows of GRB.

astro-ph↗

How strong can the coupling of leptonic photons be?

Consequences of possible existence of leptonic photon are considered for a range of values of leptonic charge. In the case of a strong Coulomb-like leptonic repulsion between electrons the existence of ordinary condensed matter is impossible: antineutrinos cannot neutralize this destructive repulsion. The upper limit of leptonic charge is inferred from the Eötvös type experiments. If however there exist light stable scalar bosons with leptonic charge (e.g. singlet antisneutrinos) they may neutralize the electron repulsion. Possible experimental manifestations of such leptonic bosons in gases and condensed matter are briefly discussed.

hep-ph↗