r-process Nucleosynthesis from Three-dimensional Magnetorotational Core-collapse Supernovae

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 864; no. 2; pp. 171 - 181
• Main Authors: Mösta, Philipp, Roberts, Luke F., Halevi, Goni, Ott, Christian D., Lippuner, Jonas, Haas, Roland, Schnetter, Erik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 10.09.2018; IOP Publishing; Institute of Physics (IOP)
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; Equations of state; Fluid flow; gamma-ray burst: general; gamma-ray burst: general instabilities magnetohydrodynamics neutrinos supernovae: general nucleosynthesis; instabilities; Leptons; Magnetic fields; Magnetohydrodynamic simulation; magnetohydrodynamics; magnetohydrodynamics (MHD); Neutrinos; Nuclear fusion; Nuclear reactions; nuclear reactions, nucleosynthesis, abundances; nucleosynthesis; Rotation; Simulation; Supernovae; supernovae: general
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aad6ec

We investigate r-process nucleosynthesis in 3D general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of rapidly rotating strongly magnetized core collapse. The simulations include a microphysical finite-temperature equation of state and a leakage scheme that captures the overall energetics and lepton number exchange due to postbounce neutrino emission and absorption. We track the composition of the ejected material using the nuclear reaction network SkyNet. Our results show that the 3D dynamics of magnetorotational core-collapse supernovae (CCSN) are important for their nucleosynthetic signature. We find that production of r-process material beyond the second peak is reduced by a factor of 100 when the magnetorotational jets produced by the rapidly rotating core undergo a kink instability. Our results indicate that 3D magnetorotationally powered CCSNe are robust r-process sources only if they are obtained by the collapse of cores with unrealistically large precollapse magnetic fields of the order of 1013 G. Additionally, a comparison simulation that we restrict to axisymmetry results in overly optimistic r-process production for lower magnetic field strengths.