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The Multidimensional Character of Nucleosynthesis in Core-Collapse Supernovae

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Handbook of Supernovae

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Abstract

Observations of supernovae and their remnants reveal highly aspherical distributions of the newly-formed elements that are the dying stars’ contributions to the interstellar medium. Modern simulations of the supernova’s neutrino-powered central engine reveal that these inhomogeneities originate in the first seconds of the explosions. Yet, much of our understanding of supernova nucleosynthesis is based on spherically symmetric models of the explosions. Recent simulations, combining high-fidelity treatments of the neutrino field that drives the explosion, the multidimensional fluid flow that taps this energy source, and the thermonuclear kinetics responsible for the composition of the ejecta, are revealing the limitations of our spherically symmetric understanding. Here, we highlight these recent results to presage the changes in our understanding of supernova nucleosynthesis that will result from a full appreciation of the multidimensional character of core-collapse supernovae.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Physics, the NASA Astrophysics Theory Program (NNH11AQ72I), and the National Science Foundation Theoretical Physics Program (PHY-1516197). The simulations here were performed via NSF TeraGrid resources provided by the National Institute for Computational Sciences under grant number TG-MCA08X010 and resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    W. Raphael Hix

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    W. Raphael Hix

  3. Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    J. Austin Harris

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  1. W. Raphael Hix
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  2. J. Austin Harris
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Correspondence to W. Raphael Hix .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of London Observatory, Mill Hill, United Kingdom

    Athem W. Alsabti

  2. Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Paul Murdin

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Hix, W.R., Harris, J.A. (2016). The Multidimensional Character of Nucleosynthesis in Core-Collapse Supernovae. In: Alsabti, A., Murdin, P. (eds) Handbook of Supernovae. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_77-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_77-1

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