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Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2016)

Core-collapse supernovae play a key role in many of astrophysical processes, but the details of how these explosive events work remain elusive. Many questions about the CCSN explosion mechanism and progenitor stars could be answered by either detecting very-low-energy supernovae (VLE SNe) or alternately placing a tight upper bound on their fraction of the CCSN population. However, VLE SNe are by definition dim events. Many VLE SNe result from the failure of the standard CCSN explosion mechanism, meaning that any observable signature must be created by secondary processes either before or during the collapse. In this dissertation I examine alternate means of producing transients in otherwise-failed CCSNe and consider the use of shock breakout flashes to both detect VLE SNe and retrieve progenitor star information. I begin by simulating neutrino-mediated mass loss in CCSNe progenitors to show that a dim, unusual, but still observable transient can be produced. I then simulate shock breakout flashes in VLE SNe for both the purposes of detection as well as extracting information about the exploding star. I discuss particular challenges of modeling shock breakout at low energies and behaviors unique to this regime, in particular the behavior of the spectral temperature. All simulations in this dissertation were done with the CASTRO radiation-hydrodynamic code.

    Cover page: Very Low Energy Supernovae And Their Resulting TransientsCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    LBL Publications (2017)
    The brief transient emitted as a shock wave erupts through the surface of a pre-supernova star carrying information about the stellar radius and explosion energy. Here, the CASTRO code, which treats radiation transport using multigroup flux-limited diffusion, is used to simulate the light curves and spectra of shock breakout in very low-energy supernovae (VLE SNe), explosions in giant stars with final kinetic energy much less than 1051 erg. VLE SN light curves, computed here with the KEPLER code, are distinctively faint, red, and long-lived, making them challenging to find with transient surveys. The accompanying shock breakouts are brighter, though briefer, and potentially easier to detect. Previous analytic work provides general guidance, but numerical simulations are challenging, due to the range of conditions and lack of equilibration between color and effective temperatures. We consider previous analytic work and extend discussions of color temperature and opacity to the lower energy range explored by these events. Since this is the first application of the CASTRO code to shock breakout, test simulations of normal energy shock breakout of SN 1987A are carried out and compared with the literature. A set of breakout light curves and spectra are then calculated for VLE SNe with final kinetic energies in the range 1047 - 1050erg for red supergiants with main-sequence masses of 15 and 25 M⊙. The importance of uncertainties in stellar atmosphere model, opacity, and ambient medium is discussed, as are observational prospects with current and forthcoming missions.
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