2015/06/08 by Doron Kushnir, Kushnir, Doron · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Neutrino Physics Research #Nuclear physics research studies #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1506.02655
4 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables
arxiv created 2015/06/08 · openalex publication_date 2015/06/08 · arxiv updated 2015/06/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are the explosions of massive stars following the collapse of the stars' iron cores. Poznanski (2013) has recently suggested an observational correlation between the ejecta velocities and the inferred masses of the red supergiant progenitors of type II-P explosions, which implies that the kinetic energy of the ejecta (E_\textrmkin) increases with the mass of the progenitor. I point out that the same conclusion can be reached from the model-free observed correlation between the ejected 56Ni masses (M_\textrmNi) and the luminosities of the progenitors for type II supernovae, which was reported by Fraser et al. (2011). This correlation is in an agreement with the predictions of the collapse-induced thermonuclear explosions (CITE) for CCSNe and in a possible contradiction with the predictions of the neutrino mechanism. I show that a correlation between M_\textrmNi and E_\textrmkin holds for all types of CCSNe (including type Ibc). This correlation suggests a common mechanism for all CCSNe, which is predicted for CITE, but is not produced by current simulations of the neutrino mechanism. Furthermore, the typical values of E_\textrmkin and M_\textrmNi for type Ibc explosions are larger by an order of a magnitude than the typical values for II-P explosions, a fact which disfavors progenitors with the same initial mass range for these explosions. Instead, the progenitors of type Ibc explosions could be massive Wolf-Rayet stars, which are predicted to yield strong explosions with low ejecta masses (as observed) according to CITE. In this case, there is no deficit of high mass progenitors for CCSNe, which was suggested under the assumption of a similar mass range for the progenitors of types II-P and Ibc supernovae.