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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1986

Why do interstellar grains exist?

There exists a discrepancy between calculated destruction rates of grains in the interstellar medium and postulated sources of new grains. This problem was examined by modelling the global life cycle of grains in the galaxy. The model includes: grain destruction due to supernovae shock waves; grain injection from cool stars, planetary nebulae, star formation, novae, and supernovae; grain growth by accretion in dark clouds; and a mixing scheme between phases of the interstellar medium. Grain growth in molecular clouds is considered as a mechanism or increasing the formation rate. To decrease the shock destruction rate, several new physical processes, such as partial vaporization effects in grain-grain collisions, breakdown of the small Larmor radius approximation for betatron acceleration, and relaxation of the steady-state shock assumption are included.

Seab, C. G.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Detectability of standing accretion shock instabilities activity in supernova neutrino signals

We introduce a novel methodology for establishing the presence of standing accretion shock instabilities (SASI) in the dynamics of a core collapse supernova from the observed neutrino event rate at water- or ice- based neutrino detectors. The methodology uses a likelihood ratio in the frequency domain as a test- statistics; it is also employed to assess the potential to estimate the frequency and the amplitude of the SASI modulations of the neutrino signal. The parameter estimation errors are consistent with the minimum possible errors as evaluated from the inverse of the Fisher information matrix, and close to the theoretical minimum for the SASI amplitude. Using results from a core-collapse simulation of a 15 solar-mass star by Kuroda et al. [Astrophys. J. 851, 62 (2017).] as a test bed for the method, we find that SASI can be identified with high confidence for a distance to the supernova of up to ~6 kpc for IceCube and up to ~3 kpc for a 0.4 Mt mass water Cherenkov detector. This methodology will aid the investigation of a future galactic supernova.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Supernova pointing capabilities of DUNE

The determination of the direction of a stellar core collapse via its neutrino emission is crucial for the identification of the progenitor for a multimessenger follow-up. A highly effective method of reconstructing supernova directions within the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is introduced. The supernova neutrino pointing resolution is studied by simulating and reconstructing electron-neutrino charged-current absorption on 40 Ar and elastic scattering of neutrinos on electrons. Procedures to reconstruct individual interactions, including a newly developed technique called “brems flipping,” as well as the burst direction from an ensemble of interactions are described. Performance of the burst direction reconstruction is evaluated for supernovae happening at a distance of 10 kpc for a specific supernova burst flux model. The pointing resolution is found to be 3.4 degrees at 68% coverage for a perfect interaction-channel classification and a fiducial mass of 40 kton, and 6.6 degrees for a 10 kton fiducial mass respectively. Assuming a 4% rate of charged-current interactions being misidentified as elastic scattering, DUNE’s burst pointing resolution is found to be 4.3 degrees (8.7 degrees) at 68% coverage.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Filling the black hole mass gap: Avoiding pair instability in massive stars through addition of nonnuclear energy

In standard stellar evolution, stars with masses ranging from approximately 150 to 240M ⊙ are expected to evolve to a pair instability supernova with no black hole (BH) remnant. This evolutionary behavior leads to a predicted gap in the black hole mass function from approximately 50 to 140M ⊙ . Yet the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations recently discovered black holes of masses 66M ⊙ and 85M ⊙ in the gravitational wave event GW190521. Here, we propose a new method to populate the BH mass gap. If an energy source is added throughout the star in addition to nuclear fusion, it is possible for the altered evolution to avoid the complete destruction of a pair instability supernova, and instead a BH remnant is left behind. An example of an extra energy source is dark matter annihilation within the star, but our results hold more generally. We show this phenomenon by exploring the effect of adding an energy source independent of temperature and density to a 180M ⊙ star, using the MESA one-dimensional stellar evolution software. If ~50% of the star’s energy is due to this new source, the star is capable of avoiding the pair instability entirely and evolving towards a core-collapse supernova and ultimately a BH remnant with mass ~ 120M ⊙ .

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Memory-triggered supernova neutrino detection

Here, we demonstrate that observations of the gravitational memory from core collapse supernovae at future deci-Hz interferometers enable time-triggered searches of supernova neutrinos at Mt-scale detectors. Achieving a sensitivity to characteristic strains of at least $\sim 10^{–25}$ at $f ≃ 0.3$ $\mathrm{Hz}$ —e.g., by improving the noise of DECIGO by one order of magnitude—will allow robust time triggers for supernovae at distances $D \sim 40–300$ $\mathrm{Mpc}$, resulting in a nearly background-free sample of $\sim 3–70$ neutrino events per Mt per decade of operation. This sample would bridge the sensitivity gap between rare galactic supernova bursts and the cosmological diffuse supernova neutrino background, allowing detailed studies of the neutrino emission of supernovae in the local Universe.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measuring type Ia supernova angular-diameter distances with intensity interferometry

This paper investigates the potential of intensity interferometry, based on the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, for measuring supernova sizes and distances. With optimized telescope positioning, observing strategy, and advancements in single-photon detection technology, this method can provide precise angular size measurements of supernovae with apparent magnitudes as bright as 12 mag. For type Ia supernovae, this limiting brightness corresponds to a local volume extending to redshift z∼0.004 and an anticipated discovery rate of approximately 1 event per year. The combination of angular size data with known physical dimensions enables accurate distance determination. Multiple telescope pairs at different relative positions allow tomographic mapping of the ejecta structure while reducing distance uncertainties. As type Ia supernovae serve as standardizable candles for measuring the Universe’s expansion history, combining intensity interferometry distances with the supernova Hubble diagram facilitates measurements of the Hubble constant H0.

cosmological parameters↗
NASA NTRS1978

Mechanisms and sites for astrophysical gamma ray line production

The production of gamma ray lines and estimates of line fluxes resulting from nuclear deexcitations, positron annihilation, and electron capture at various astrophysical sites are discussed. Supernova and nova explosions synthesize long-lived radioactive isotopes and eject them into space where they produce observable gamma ray lines by decaying into excited levels of daughter nuclei or by emitting positrons. Energetic charged particles in the interstellar medium, in supernova remants, in solar or stellar flares, and possibly in the vicinity of compact objects, produce gamma-ray lines by inelastic collisions which either excite nuclear levels or produce positrons and neutrons. Energetic particles can result from acceleration in time-varying magnetic fields (solar flares) or from gravitational accretion onto neutron stars and black holes. Electromagnetic processes in the strong magnetic fields of pulsars can produce positron-electron pairs, with line emission resulting from positron annihilation. Deexcitations of quantized states in strong magnetic fields can also produce lines.

Ramaty, R.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Actinide Crystallization and Fission Reactions in Cooling White Dwarf Stars

The first solids that form as a cooling white dwarf (WD) starts to crystallize are expected to be greatly enriched in actinides. This is because the melting points of WD matter scale as Z5/3 and actinides have the largest charge Z. We estimate that the solids may be so enriched in actinides that they could support a fission chain reaction. This reaction could ignite carbon burning and lead to the explosion of an isolated WD in a thermonuclear supernova (SN Ia). Our mechanism could potentially explain SN Ia with sub-Chandrasekhar ejecta masses and short delay times.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Supernova Axions Convert to Gamma Rays in Magnetic Fields of Progenitor Stars

It has long been established that axions could have been produced within the nascent proto-neutron star formed following the type II supernova SN1987A, escaped the star due to their weak interactions, and then converted to gamma rays in the Galactic magnetic fields; the nonobservation of a gamma-ray flash coincident with the neutrino burst leads to strong constraints on the axion-photon coupling for axion masses m a ≲10 –10 eV. In this Letter, we use SN1987A to constrain higher mass axions, all the way to m a ~10 –3 eV, by accounting for axion production from the Primakoff process, nucleon bremsstrahlung, and pion conversion along with axion-photon conversion on the still-intact magnetic fields of the progenitor star. Moreover, we show that gamma-ray observations of the next Galactic supernova, leveraging the magnetic fields of the progenitor star, could detect quantum chromodynamics axions for masses above roughly 50 μ⁢eV, depending on the supernova. We propose a new full-sky gamma-ray satellite constellation that we call the GALactic AXion Instrument for Supernova (GALAXIS) to search for such future signals along with related signals from extragalactic neutron star mergers.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Total energy in supernova neutrinos and the tidal deformability and binding energy of neutron stars

The energy radiated in supernova neutrinos is a fundamental quantity that is closely related to the gravitational binding energy of a neutron star. Recently the tidal deformability of neutron stars was constrained by gravitational wave observations. By considering several equations of state, we find a strong correlation between the tidal deformability and neutron star binding energy. We use this correlation to sharpen predictions of the binding energy of neutron stars and the total neutrino energy in supernovae. We find a minimum binding energy for a neutron star formed in a supernova of ~ 1.5 × 10 53 ergs . Should the neutrino energy in a supernova be significantly below this value, it would strongly suggest new unobserved particles are carrying away some of the supernova energy. Alternatively, if the neutrino energy is observed above ~ 6 × 10 53 ergs , it would strongly imply the formation of a (perhaps surprisingly) massive neutron star.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Core collapse supernova gravitational wave emission for progenitors of 9.6, 15, and 25 M ⊙

Here, we present gravitational wave emission predictions based on three core collapse supernova simulations corresponding to three different progenitor masses. The masses span a large range, between 9.6 and 25M ⊙ , are all initially nonrotating, and are of two metallicities: zero and solar. We compute both the temporal evolution of the gravitational wave strains for both the plus and the cross polarizations, as well as their spectral decomposition and characteristic strains. The temporal evolution of our zero metallicity 9.6M ⊙ progenitor model is distinct from the temporal evolution of our solar metallicity 15M ⊙ progenitor model and our zero metallicity 25M ⊙ progenitor model. In the former case, the high-frequency gravitational wave emission is largely confined to a brief time period ~75 ms after bounce, whereas in the latter two cases high-frequency emission does not commence until ~125 ms after bounce or later. The excitation mechanisms of the high-frequency emission in all three cases correspond to proto-neutron star convection and accretion onto the proto-neutron star from the convective gain layer above it, with the former playing the dominant role for most of the evolution. The low-frequency emission in all three models exhibits very similar behavior. At frequencies below ~250 Hz, gravitational waves are emitted by neutrino-driven convection and the standing accretion shock instability (SASI). This emission extends throughout the simulations when a gain region is present. In all three models, explosion is observed at ~125, ~500, and ~250 ms after bounce in the 9.6, 15, and 25M ⊙ progenitor models, respectively. At these times, the low-frequency gravitational wave emission is joined by very low-frequency emission, below ~10 Hz. These very low-frequency episodes are the result of explosion and begin at the above designated explosion times in each of our models. Our characteristic strains tell us that, in principle, all three gravitational wave signals would be detectable by current-generation detectors for a supernova at a distance of 10 kpc. However, our 9.6M ⊙ progenitor model is a significantly weaker source of gravitational waves, with strain amplitudes approximately 5–10 times less than in our other two models. The characteristic strain for this model tells us that such a supernova would be detectable only within a much more narrow frequency range around the maximum sensitivity of today’s detectors. Finally, in our 9.6M ⊙ progenitor model, we see very high-frequency gravitational radiation, extending up to ~2000 Hz. This feature results from the interaction of shock- and deleptonization-induced convection with perturbations introduced in the progenitor by nuclear burning during core collapse. While unique to the 9.6M ⊙ progenitor model analyzed here, this very high-frequency emission may, in fact, be a generic feature of the predictions for the gravitational wave emission from all core collapse supernova models when simulations are performed with three-dimensional progenitors.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Coupling neutrino oscillations and simulations of core-collapse supernovae

At the present time even the most sophisticated, multidimensional simulations of core-collapse supernovae do not (self-consistently) include neutrino flavor transformation. This physics is missing despite the importance of neutrinos in the core-collapse explosion paradigm. Because of this dependence, any flavor transformation that occurs in the region between the protoneutron star and the shock could result in major effects upon the dynamics of the explosion. Here, we present the first hydrodynamic core-collapse supernova simulation which simultaneously includes flavor transformation of the free-streaming neutrinos in the neutrino transport. These oscillation calculations are dynamically updated and evolve self-consistently alongside the hydrodynamics. Using a M = 20 M ⊙ progenitor, we find that while the oscillations have an effect on the neutrino emission and the heating rates, flavor transformation alone does not lead to a successful explosion of this progenitor in spherical symmetry.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Time dependent signatures of core-collapse supernova neutrinos at HALO

In this work, we calculate the response of a lead-based detector, such as the Helium and Lead Observatory (HALO) or its planned upgrade HALO-1kt to a Galactic core-collapse supernova. We pay particular attention to the time dependence of the reaction rates. All reaction rates decrease as the neutrino luminosity exponentially drops during the cooling period, but the ratio of one-neutron (1n) to two-neutron (2n) event rates in HALO is independent of this overall decrease. Nevertheless, we find that this ratio still changes with time due to the changing character of neutrino flavor transformations with the evolving conditions in the supernova. In the case of inverted hierarchy, this is caused by the fact that the spectral splits become less and less sharp with the decreasing luminosity. In the case of normal hierarchy, it is caused by the passage of the shock wave through the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein resonance region. However, in both cases, we find that the change in the ratio of 1n to 2n event rates is limited to a few percent.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hydrodynamic Mechanism for Clumping along the Equatorial Rings of SN1987A and Other Stars

An explanation for the origin and number of clumps along the equatorial ring of Supernova 1987A has eluded decades of research. Our linear analysis and hydrodynamic simulations of the expanding ring prior to the supernova reveal that it is subject to the Crow instability between vortex cores. Here, the dominant wave number is remarkably consistent with the number of clumps, suggesting that the Crow instability stimulates clump formation. Although the present analysis focuses on linear fluid flow, future nonlinear analysis and the incorporation of additional stellar physics may further elucidate the remnant structure and the evolution of the progenitor and other stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Comparison of simulated neutrino emission models with data on Supernova 1987A

Here we compare models of supernova (SN) neutrino emission with the Kamiokande II data on SN 1987A using the Bayesian approach. These models are taken from simulations and are representative of current one-dimensional SN models. We find that models with a brief accretion phase of neutrino emission are the most favored. This result is not affected by varying the overall flux normalization or considering neutrino oscillations. We also check the compatibility of the best-fit models with the data.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Low-Energy Supernovae Severely Constrain Radiative Particle Decays

The hot and dense core formed in the collapse of a massive star is a powerful source of hypothetical feebly interacting particles such as sterile neutrinos, dark photons, axionlike particles (ALPs), and others. Radiative decays such as a→2γ deposit this energy in the surrounding material if the mean free path is less than the radius of the progenitor star. For the first time, we use a supernova (SN) population with particularly low explosion energies as the most sensitive calorimeters to constrain this possibility. These SNe are observationally identified as low-luminosity events with low ejecta velocities and low masses of ejected 56 Ni. Their low energies limit the energy deposition from particle decays to less than about 0.1 B, where 1 B(bethe) = 10 51 erg. For 1–500 MeV-mass ALPs, this generic argument excludes ALP-photon couplings G aγγ in the 10 -10 -10 -8 GeV -1 range.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗