Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) | 2020 Oct 07
A research team at ... Kavli IPMU ... have used computer simulations to follow the explosion, nuclear reaction, production of elements, and evolution of elemental abundances in galaxies. As a result, they placed stringent constraints on the origin of Type Ia supernovae.
A Type Ia supernova is a type of supernova that is not related to the death of a massive star. Instead, a Type Ia supernova is a luminous explosion of a star that occurs in a binary system, where two relatively low-mass stars are evolving together. Because of their relatively constant luminosity, Type Ia supernovae have been used as a standard “candle” to measure the expansion of the universe, a result for which the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded. However, the progenitor star of a Type Ia supernova is unknown, and has been the topic of debate for around a half century.
“As usual for normal supernovae, Type Ia supernovae produce “metals”—or, in astronomical terms, chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, the latter pair tracing their origin to the Big Bang—but Type Ia supernovae produce different elements, such as manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), and iron (Fe). These elemental abundances can be measured in spectral features of nearby stars, which keep a “record” of supernovae from the past, like fossils do in archaeology,’’ Kobayashi ... said. Therefore, the evolution of elemental abundances in galaxies can provide a stringent constraint on the true origin of Type Ia supernovae. ...
New Type Ia Supernova Yields and the Manganese and Nickel Problems in the Milky Way
and Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies ~ Chiaki Kobayashi, Shing-Chi Leung, Ken'ichi Nomoto
- Astrophysical Journal 895(2):138 (2020 Jun 01) DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab8e44
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1906.09980 > 24 Jun 2019 (v1), 27 Apr 2020 (v3)