2013/03/20 by Elizabeth Lovegrove, Stan Woosley, S. E. Woosley · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/769/2/109
8 pages, 12 figures, accepted to ApJ
arxiv created 2013/03/20 · openalex publication_date 2013/05/13 · arxiv updated 2013/05/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
It now seems likely that some percentage of more massive supernova progenitors do not explode by any of the currently discussed explosion mechanisms. This has led to speculation concerning the observable transients that might be produced if such a supernova fails. Even if a prompt outgoing shock fails to form in a collapsing presupernova star, one must still consider the hydrodynamic response of the star to the abrupt loss of mass via neutrinos as the core forms a protoneutron star. Following a suggestion by Nadezhin, we calculate the hydrodynamical responses of typical supernova progenitor stars to the rapid loss of approximately 0.2–0.5 M ☉ of gravitational mass from their centers. In a red supergiant star, a very weak supernova with total kinetic energy ∼10 47 erg results. The binding energy of a large fraction of the hydrogen envelope before the explosion is of the same order and, depending upon assumptions regarding the maximum mass of a neutron star, most of it is ejected. Ejection speeds are ∼100 km s −1 and luminosities ∼10 39 erg s −1 are maintained for about a year. A significant part of the energy comes from the recombination of hydrogen. The color of the explosion is extremely red and the events bear some similarity to "luminous red novae," but have much lower speeds.