Sensitivity study of explosive nucleosynthesis in type Ia supernovae: Modification of individual thermonuclear reaction rates

Eduardo Bravo and Gabriel Martínez-Pinedo
Phys. Rev. C 85, 055805 – Published 18 May 2012

Abstract

Background: Type Ia supernovae contribute significantly to the nucleosynthesis of many Fe-group and intermediate-mass elements. However, the robustness of nucleosynthesis obtained via models of this class of explosions has not been studied in depth until now.

Purpose: We explore the sensitivity of the nucleosynthesis resulting from thermonuclear explosions of massive white dwarfs with respect to uncertainties in nuclear reaction rates. We put particular emphasis on indentifying the individual reactions rates that most strongly affect the isotopic products of these supernovae.

Method: We have adopted a standard one-dimensional delayed detonation model of the explosion of a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf and have postprocessed the thermodynamic trajectories of every mass shell with a nucleosynthetic code to obtain the chemical composition of the ejected matter. We have considered increases (decreases) by a factor of 10 on the rates of 1196 nuclear reactions (simultaneously with their inverse reactions), repeating the nucleosynthesis calculations after modification of each reaction rate pair. We have computed as well hydrodynamic models for different rates of the fusion reactions of 12C and of 16O. From the calculations we have selected the reactions that have the largest impact on the supernova yields, and we have computed again the nucleosynthesis using two or three alternative prescriptions for their rates, taken from the JINA REACLIB database. For the three reactions with the largest sensitivity we have analyzed as well the temperature ranges where a modification of their rates has the strongest effect on nucleosynthesis.

Results: The nucleosynthesis resulting from the type Ia supernova models is quite robust with respect to variations of nuclear reaction rates, with the exception of the reaction of fusion of two 12C nuclei. The energy of the explosion changes by less than 4% when the rates of the reactions 12C+12C or 16O+16O are multiplied by a factor of ×10 or ×0.1. The changes in the nucleosynthesis owing to the modification of the rates of these fusion reactions are also quite modest; for instance, no species with a mass fraction larger than 0.02 experiences a variation of its yield larger than a factor of 2. We provide the sensitivity of the yields of the most abundant species with respect to the rates of the most intense reactions with protons, neutrons, and α. In general, the yields of Fe-group nuclei are more robust than the yields of intermediate-mass elements. Among the species with yields larger than 108M, 35S has the largest sensitivity to the nuclear reaction rates. It is remarkable that the reactions involving elements with Z>22 have a tiny influence on the supernova nucleosynthesis. Among the charged-particle reactions, the most influential on supernova nucleosynthesis are 30Si+p31P+γ, 20Ne+α24Mg+γ, and 24Mg+α27Al+p. The temperatures at which a modification of their rate has a larger impact are in the range 2T4 GK.

Conclusions: The explosion model (i.e., the assumed conditions and propagation of the flame) chiefly determines the element production of type Ia supernovae and derived quantities such as their luminosity, while the nuclear reaction rates used in the simulations have a small influence on the kinetic energy and final chemical composition of the ejecta. Our results show that the uncertainty in individual thermonuclear reaction rates cannot account for discrepancies of a factor of 2 between isotopic ratios in type Ia supernovae and those in the solar system, especially within the Fe group.

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  • Received 20 July 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.85.055805

©2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Eduardo Bravo1,* and Gabriel Martínez-Pinedo2,3,†

  • 1Departament de Física i Enginyeria Nuclear, Universidad Politècnica de Catalunya, Carrer Pere Serra 1-15, 08173 Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain
  • 2Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Kernphysik, Schlossgartenstrasse 2, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
  • 3GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerioneneforschung, Planckstrasse 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany

  • *eduardo.bravo@upc.edu
  • g.martinez@gsi.de

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Vol. 85, Iss. 5 — May 2012

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