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Register a new userQuark deconfinement as supernova explosion engine for massive blue-supergiant stars
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Blue-supergiant stars develop into core-collapse supernovae --- one of the most energetic outbursts in the universe --- when all nuclear burning fuel is exhausted in the stellar core. Previous attempts failed to explain observed explosions of such stars which have a zero-age main sequence mass of 50~M$_odot$ or more. Here we exploit the largely uncertain state of matter at high density, and connect the modeling of such stellar explosions with a first-order phase transition from nuclear matter to the quark-gluon plasma. The resulting energetic supernova explosions can account for a large variety of lightcurves, from peculiar type II to super-luminous events. The remnants are neutron stars with quark matter core, known as hybrid stars, of about 2~M$_odot$ at birth. A galactic event of this kind could be observable due to the release of a second neutrino burst. Its observation would confirm such a first-order phase transition at densities relevant for astrophysics.
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In this paper, we use a three flavor non-local Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model, an~improved effective model of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at low energies, to investigate the existence of deconfined quarks in the cores of neutron stars. Particular emphasis is put on the possible existence of quark matter in the cores of rotating neutron stars (pulsars). In contrast to non-rotating neutron stars, whose particle compositions do not change with time (are frozen in), the type and structure of the matter in the cores of rotating neutron stars depends on the spin frequencies of these stars, which opens up a possible new window on the nature of matter deep in the cores of neutron stars. Our study shows that, depending on mass and rotational frequency, up to around 8% of the mass of a massive neutron star may be in the mixed quark-hadron phase, if the phase transition is treated as a Gibbs transition. We also find that the gravitational mass at which quark deconfinement occurs in rotating neutron stars varies quadratically with spin frequency, which can be fitted by a simple formula.
We present nebular-phase imaging and spectroscopy for the hydrogen-poor superluminous supernova SN 2015bn, at redshift z=0.1136, spanning +250-400 d after maximum light. The light curve exhibits a steepening in the decline rate from 1.4 mag/(100 d) to 1.7 mag/(100 d), suggestive of a significant decrease in the opacity. This change is accompanied by a transition from a blue continuum superposed with photospheric absorption lines to a nebular spectrum dominated by emission lines of oxygen, calcium and magnesium. There are no obvious signatures of circumstellar interaction or large nickel mass. We show that the spectrum at +400 d is virtually identical to a number of energetic Type Ic supernovae such as SN 1997dq, SN 2012au, and SN 1998bw, indicating similar core conditions and strengthening the link between `hypernovae/long gamma-ray bursts and superluminous supernovae. A single explosion mechanism may unify these events that span absolute magnitudes of -22 < M_B < -17. Both the light curve and spectrum of SN 2015bn are consistent with an engine-driven explosion ejecting 7-30 M$_odot$ of oxygen-dominated ejecta (for reasonable choices in temperature and opacity). A strong and relatively narrow O II $lambda$7774 line, seen in a number of these energetic events but not in normal supernovae, may point to an inner shell that is the signature of a central engine.
We present extensive ultraviolet (UV) and optical photometry, as well as dense optical spectroscopy for type II Plateau (IIP) supernova SN 2016X that exploded in the nearby ($sim$ 15 Mpc) spiral galaxy UGC 08041. The observations span the period from 2 to 180 days after the explosion; in particular, the Swift UV data probably captured the signature of shock breakout associated with the explosion of SN 2016X. It shows very strong UV emission during the first week after explosion, with contribution of $sim$ 20 -- 30% to the bolometric luminosity (versus $lesssim$ 15% for normal SNe IIP). Moreover, we found that this supernova has an unusually long rise time of about 12.6 $pm$ 0.5 days in the $R$ band (versus $sim$ 7.0 days for typical SNe IIP). The optical light curves and spectral evolution are quite similar to the fast-declining type IIP object SN 2013ej, except that SN 2016X has a relatively brighter tail. Based on the evolution of photospheric temperature as inferred from the $Swift$ data in the early phase, we derive that the progenitor of SN 2016X has a radius of about 930 $pm$ 70 R$_{odot}$. This large-size star is expected to be a red supergiant star with an initial mass of $gtrsim$ 19 -- 20 M$_{odot}$ based on the mass $--$ radius relation of the Galactic red supergiants, and it represents one of the most largest and massive progenitors found for SNe IIP.
Long GRBs (LGRBs) have typical duration of ~ 30 s and some of them are associated with hypernovae, like Type Ic SN 1998bw. Wolf-Rayet stars are the most plausible LGRB progenitors, since the free-fall time of the envelope is consistent with the duration, and the natural outcome of the progenitor is a Type Ic SN. While a new population of ultra-long GRBs (ULGRBs), GRB 111209A, GRB 101225A, and GRB 121027A, has a duration of ~ 10^4 s, two of them are accompanied by superluminous-supernova (SLSN) like bumps, which are <~ 10 times brighter than typical hypernovae. Wolf-Rayet progenitors cannot explain ULGRBs because of too long duration and too bright SN-like bump. A blue supergiant (BSG) progenitor model, however, can explain the duration of ULGRBs. Moreover, SLSN-like bump can be attributed to the so-called cocoon-fireball photospheric emissions (CFPEs). Since a large cocoon is inevitably produced during the relativistic jet piercing though the BSG envelope, this component can be a smoking-gun evidence of BSG model for ULGRBs. In this paper, we examine u, g, r, i, and J-band light curves of three ULGRBs and demonstrate that they can be fitted quite well by our BSG model with the appropriate choices of the jet opening angle and the number density of the ambient gas. In addition, we predict that for 121027A, SLSN-like bump could have been observed for ~ 20 - 80 days after the burst. We also propose that some SLSNe might be CFPEs of off-axis ULGRBs without visible prompt emission.
We propose a model for short duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) based on the formation of a quark star after the merger of two neutron stars. We assume that the sGRB central engine is a proto-magnetar, which has been previously invoked to explain the plateau-like X-ray emission observed following both long and short GRBs. Here, we show that: i) a few milliseconds after the merger it is possible to form a stable and massive star made in part of quarks; ii) during the early cooling phase of the incompletely formed quark star, the flux of baryons ablated from the surface by neutrinos is large and it does not allow the outflow to achieve a bulk Lorentz factor high enough to produce a GRB; iii) after the quark burning front reaches the stellar surface, baryon ablation ceases and the jet becomes too baryon poor to produce a GRB; iv) however, between these two phases a GRB can be produced over the finite timescale required for the baryon pollution to cease; a characteristic timescale of the order of $sim 0.1 $ s naturally results from the time the conversion front needs to cover the distance between the rotational pole and the latitude of the last closed magnetic field line; v) we predict a correlation between the luminosity of the sGRB and its duration, consistent with the data; vi) our model also predicts a delay of the order of ten seconds between the time of the merger event and the sGRB, allowing for the possibility of precursor emission and implying that the jet will encounter the dense cocoon formed immediately after the merger.
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