http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.08939
The final evolution of stars in the mass range 60 – 150 solar masses is explored. Depending upon their mass loss and rotation rates, many of these stars will end their lives as pulsational pair-instability supernovae. Even a non-rotating 70 solar mass star is pulsationally unstable during oxygen shell burning and can power a sub-luminous supernova. Rotation decreases the limit further. For more massive stars, the pulsations are less frequent, span a longer time, and are more powerful. Violent pulsations eject not only any residual low density envelope, but also that fraction of the helium core mass outside about 35 – 50 solar masses. The remaining core of helium and heavy elements continues to evolve, ultimately forming an iron core of about 2.5 solar masses that probably collapses to a black hole. A variety of observational transients result with total durations ranging from days to 10,000 years, and luminosities from 10$^{41}$ to 10$^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Many transients resemble ordinary Type IIp supernovae, but others can recur on time scales of years or longer, with highly structured light curves. Some high mass supernova remnants will contain Wolf-Rayet stars for thousands of years. The relevance of PPISN to supernova impostors like Eta Carinae, to ultra-luminous supernovae, and to sources of gravitational radiation like GW 150914 is discussed. No black holes between 52 and 133 solar masses are expected from stellar evolution in close binaries.
S. Woosley
Thu, 1 Sep 16
74/74
Comments: 31 pages, 25 figures, submitted to Astrophysical Journal, Aug. 31, 2016
You must be logged in to post a comment.