The QSE-Reduced Nuclear Reaction Network for Silicon Burning

nuclei are formed in massive stars shortly before core collapse and during their supernova outbursts, as well as during thermonuclear supernovae. Complete and incomplete silicon burning are responsible for the production of a wide range of nuclei with atomic mass numbers from 28 to 64. Because of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2007-09, Vol.667 (1), p.476-488
Main Authors: Hix, W. Raphael, Parete-Koon, Suzanne T, Freiburghaus, Christian, Thielemann, Friedrich-Karl
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABUNDANCE
Astronomy
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
HYDRODYNAMICS
IRON
MASS NUMBER
NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
PHYSICS
PRODUCTION
SILICON
STARS
SUPERNOVAE
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Summary:nuclei are formed in massive stars shortly before core collapse and during their supernova outbursts, as well as during thermonuclear supernovae. Complete and incomplete silicon burning are responsible for the production of a wide range of nuclei with atomic mass numbers from 28 to 64. Because of the large number of nuclei involved, accurate modeling of silicon burning is computationally expensive. However, examination of the physics of silicon burning has revealed that the nuclear evolution is dominated by large groups of nuclei in mutual equilibrium. We present a new hybrid equilibrium-network scheme which takes advantage of this quasi-equilibrium in order to reduce the number of independent variables calculated. This allows accurate prediction of the nuclear abundance evolution, deleptonization, and energy generation at a greatly reduced computational cost when compared to a conventional nuclear reaction network. During silicon burning, the resultant QSE-reduced network is approximately an order of magnitude faster than the full network it replaces and requires the tracking of less than a third as many abundance variables, without significant loss of accuracy. These reductions in computational cost and the number of species evolved make QSE-reduced networks well suited for inclusion within hydrodynamic simulations, particularly in multidimensional applications.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/520672