2023/10/01 by S. K. Jeena, Jeena, S K, Projjwal Banerjee +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.00591
openalex publication_date 2023/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Low-metallicity very massive stars with an initial mass of ∼ 140--260 \rm M_\odot are expected to end their lives as pair-instability supernovae (PISNe). The abundance pattern resulting from a PISN differs drastically from regular core-collapse supernova (CCSN) models and is expected to be seen in very metal-poor (VMP) stars of \rm[Fe/H]\lesssim -2. Despite the routine discovery of many VMP stars, the unique abundance pattern expected from PISNe has not been unambiguously detected. The recently discovered VMP star LAMOST J1010+2358, however, shows a peculiar abundance pattern that is remarkably well fit by a PISN, indicating the potential first discovery of a bonafide star born from gas polluted by a PISN. In this paper, we study the detailed nucleosynthesis in a large set of models of CCSN of Pop III and Pop II star of metallicity \rm[Fe/H]=-3 with masses ranging from 12--30 \rm M_\odot. We find that the observed abundance pattern in LAMOST J1010+2358 can be fit at least equally well by CCSN models of ∼ 12--14 \rm M_\odot that undergo negligible fallback following the explosion. The best-fit CCSN models provide a fit that is even marginally better than the best-fit PISN model. We conclude the measured abundance pattern in LAMOST J1010+2358 could have originated from a CCSN and therefore cannot be unambiguously identified with a PISN given the set of elements measured in it to date. We identify key elements that need to be measured in future detections in stars like LAMOST J1010+2358 that can differentiate between CCSN and PISN origin.