Wave‐driven mass loss in the last year of stellar evolution: setting the stage for the most luminous core‐collapse supernovae

By E. Quataert, J. Shiode. 2012

258 citations recorded by the source corpus.

During the late stages of stellar evolution in massive stars (C fusion and later), the fusion luminosity in the core of the star exceeds the star’s Eddington luminosity. This can drive vigorous convective motions which in turn excite internal gravity waves. The local wave energy flux excited by convection is itself well above Eddington during the last few years in the life of the star. We suggest that an interesting fraction of the energy in gravity waves can, in some cases, convert into sound waves as the gravity waves propagate (tunnel) towards the stellar surface. The subsequent dissipation of the sound waves can unbind up to several M� of the stellar envelope. This wave-driven mass loss can explain the existence of extremely large stellar mass-loss rates just prior to core collapse, which are inferred via circumstellar interaction in some core-collapse supernovae (e.g. SNe 2006gy and PTF 09uj, and even Type IIn supernovae more generally). An outstanding question is understanding what stellar parameters (mass, rotation, metallicity and age) are the most susceptible to wave-driven mass loss. This depends on the precise internal structure of massive stars and the power spectrum of internal gravity waves excited by stellar convection.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b74b3c4e709ec43951aa43bafe0cd7593389493a

How researchers see this paper

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. E. Berger
2. Stan Woosley
3. Bing Zhang
4. N. Smith
5. B. Metzger
6. S. Smartt
7. S. Valenti
8. A. Piro

In Instrumentation

1. N. Smith
2. Stan Woosley
3. R. Chevalier
4. E. Berger
5. J. Silverman
6. S. Valenti
7. R. Kirshner
8. W. Fong

Citations in the corpus

• A PANCHROMATIC VIEW OF THE RESTLESS SN 2009ip REVEALS THE EXPLOSIVE EJECTION OF A MASSIVE STAR ENVELOPE (2013, background): “Alternatively, convective motions stimulated by the superEddington fusion luminosity in the core of a massive star can excite internal gravity waves (g-mode non-radial oscillations, Quataert & Shiode 2012).”
• Light-curve modelling of superluminous supernova 2006gy: collision between supernova ejecta and a dense circumstellar medium (2012, background): “…Georgy 2012) and it is still possible that very massive RSGs lose ∼10 M just before their explosions due to pulsations (e.g. Li & Gong 1994; Heger et al. 1997; Yoon & Cantiello 2010), dust (e.g. van Loon et al. 2005) or g-mode oscillations (Quataert & Shiode 2012, see also Arnett & Meakin 2011).”
• THE REMARKABLE DEATHS OF 9–11 SOLAR MASS STARS (2015, background): “…the envelope sufficiently in advance of core collapse, there is still the possibility of substantial mass ejection by energy transported acoustically from the vastly superEddington convective shells during the last few years of the evolution (§ 5.2; Quataert & Shiode 2012; Shiode & Quataert 2014).”
• Spectroscopy of superluminous supernova host galaxies. A preference of hydrogen-poor events for extreme emission line galaxies (2014, background): “Ways to explain intensive mass-loss prior to the explosion of a very massive star, and the formation of a massive CSM shell surrounding it, have recently been proposed (Woosley, Blinnikov & Heger 2007; Quataert & Shiode 2012).”
• A High-resolution Study of Presupernova Core Structure (2017, background): “The envelope might also be lost to a very weak explosion that did not unbind the helium core (Quataert & Shiode 2012; Fuller 2017; Lovegrove & Woosley 2013).”
• Pre-supernova outbursts via wave heating in massive stars – I. Red supergiants (2017, methodology): “(B25) Equating Mdamp with the mass in one scaleheight roughly reproduces the damping criterion of equation 7 of Quataert & Shiode (2012).”
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Science Objectives (2019, background): “This may be important for a better understanding of the SN explosion mechanism as these final stages determine the initial conditions to explosion simulations (e.g., Arnett & Meakin 2011; Quataert & Shiode 2012; Shiode & Quataert 2014; Fuller 2017; Fuller & Ro 2018).”
• Luminous blue variables are antisocial: their isolation implies that they are kicked mass gainers in binary evolution (2014, background): “Moreover, the concentration of eruptive mass loss associated with the final nuclear burning sequences in the last few years before core collapse (Smith & Arnett 2014; Quataert & Shiode 2012) means that the progenitor need not have been in a dense-wind phase for very long.”
• HIGH-DENSITY CIRCUMSTELLAR INTERACTION IN THE LUMINOUS TYPE IIn SN 2010jl: THE FIRST 1100 DAYS (2013, background): “A third scenario is discussed by Quataert & Shiode (2012) based on convective motions connected to the carbon burning and later stages when the core luminosity is super Eddington.”
• Measuring the Progenitor Masses and Dense Circumstellar Material of Type II Supernovae (2017, background): “It seems to indicate that there is increased activity in RSGs during the last months or years of their lives, which may be related to theoretical studies of pre-explosion outbursts (Quataert & Shiode 2012; Shiode & Quataert 2014; Quataert et al. 2016; Fuller 2017).”
• ANALYTICAL LIGHT CURVE MODELS OF SUPERLUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE: χ2-MINIMIZATION OF PARAMETER FITS (2013, background): “A possible mechanism could be mass-loss via gravity waves during the advanced burning stages of some massive stars (Quataert & Shiode 2012).”
• Unifying Type II Supernova Light Curves with Dense Circumstellar Material (2016, background): “For example, the CSM we are inferring could be an inflated outer radius of the star, perhaps driven by additional energy input during the end of the star’s life (e.g., like from waves, Quataert & Shiode 2012; Shiode & Quataert 2014).”
• VERY LOW ENERGY SUPERNOVAE FROM NEUTRINO MASS LOSS (2013, background): “Pulsations (Woosley & Heger 2007) or acoustic energy transport (Quataert & Shiode 2012) may lead to envelope ejection, but these either occur in stars that are uncommonly massive or depend on details of gravity wave propagation that are still to be worked out.”