(http://www.physics.rutgers.

edu)

Analyzing the Universe - Course Wiki

(index.html): The Sky is Falling!
(https://www.coursera.org/learn/analyze/home/welcome)Analyzing
the Universe
Core Collapse Supernovae
(https://www.coursera.org/learn/analyze/home/welcome)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_collapse_supernova
Week 1 (week1.html)
Last week we learned about how neutron stars (neutron_stars.html) become the
Week 2 (week2.html) compact stellar objects that are left behind when massive stars (M > 10 ) end
star ⊙

Week 3 (week3.html)
Week 4 (week4.html)
Week 5 (week5.html)
5.1 Core-Collapse Supernovae
(cc_supernovae.html)
5.2 Supernova Remnants
(supernova_remnants.html)
(week5.html)
their lives violently in a core-collapse supernova. This week we will explore the
physical processes that explain these tremendous explosions.
As we discussed in the stellar evolution wiki article (stellar_evolution.html), after
the hydrogen is depleted in the core of a massive star, successive stages of fusion
ensue in the core and around it. The figure below depicts the elemental makeup of
these regions with the heavier elements appearing closer to the core. This is
generally referred to as an onion-skin make-up, but this is a grossly simplified view,
as there would sometimes be mixing between layers as the star evolves. Moreover,
there are other elements (such as sulfur) in some of the layers but the general idea
applies. In particular, we must pay close attention to the iron core enshrouded by a
shell of silicon and sulfur burning material. This shell generates more iron which
grows the core’s mass. Unlike all other stages of the star’s evolution, the final stage
sees the fires of elemental fusion extinguish in the core.

Week 6 (week6.html)

This fate is ensured by the fact that, unlike all of the previous stages of nuclear
fusion that generated energy, iron requires energy to fuse into heavier elements. In
a sense the core becomes a massive energy sink and as its mass nears the
Chandrasekhar mass limit (∼ 1.4 M ), the atoms become relativistic (in addition to
⊙

having the electrons degenerate) and the core begins to collapse, unable to exert the
needed outward pressure to resist the pull of gravity towards the star’s center.

The core of the star, about the size of earth, collapses until neutron degeneracy
pressure can balance that of gravity. By this point the core is about the size of
Manhattan (∼ 10 km). Let us take a short time-out on the action to explain the
collapse in detail.
/
As the core collapses all of the protons are transformed into neutrons through
numerous physical processes. The simplest process is inverse-β decay
(http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/InverseBetaDecay.html), wherein a proton
combines with an electron to become a neutron (neutral by the fact that electrons and
protons have exactly the same magnitude charge, yet opposite in sign). In addition to
forming a neutron, a neutrino (http://www.ps.uci.edu/~superk/neutrino.html) is also
emitted. Think of a neutrino as the near-massless, chargeless, soul of the electron
that has ceased to be; in this case it would be an electron neutrino, typically
symbolizes as ν . After supernova 1987A
e
−

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A) exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud,

a massive stream of neutrinos was detected by way of anomalously high detection
rate at neutrino detection experiments that were, and still are, housed far
underground to shield against spurious detections not associated with cosmic events.
We can visually represent this nuclear decay in a simple equation:
−
p + e ⟶ n + νe− . (1)

(Note that for each neutron thus formed, a neutrino is generated as well). Now, we
pick up where the action left off.... The core reaches its minimum size of about 10
km, but then it begins to rebound. As it does so, shock waves are driven into the
stellar material that is also trying to fall in to the center. After this rebound the core
will again collapse, but this time it is more or locked into place as a fully formed
neutron star. In certain respects, this resembles a ringing bell.

Meanwhile, the shock wave drives through the infalling stellar material and is
strengthened by the tremendous flux of neutrinos that results from the neutron-star
formation. This shock wave rips apart the star in an event we call a supernova. The
diagram below shows a great cartoon and caption from the wikipedia page on Type
II Supernovae (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_collapse_supernova), and depicts
the various stages of the core-collapse.

"Within a massive, evolved star (a) the onion-layered shells of

elements undergo fusion, forming a nickel-iron core (b) that
reaches Chandrasekhar-mass and starts to collapse. The inner
part of the core is compressed into neutrons (c), causing
infalling material to bounce (d) and form an outward-
propagating shock front (red). The shock starts to stall (e), but
it is re-invigorated by neutrino interaction. The surrounding
material is blasted away (f), leaving only a degenerate
remnant".- From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_collapse_supernova
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_collapse_supernova).

Here is an animation I put together that shows this core collapse in

motion!

New Version!
/
 If you have any trouble viewing the video click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=iDSzn7-9v5c&feature=youtu.be).

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

(http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer)

2014 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Department of Physics & Astronomy, 136 Frelinghuysen Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854
Like us on: (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Piscataway-NJ/Rutgers-Physics-Astronomy/162344740453207)