Hydrogen burning under extreme conditions Scenarios: Hot bottom burning in massive AGB stars (> 4 solar masses) (T 9 ~ 0.08) Nova explosions on accreting white dwarfs (T 9 ~ 0.4) X-ray bursts on accreting neutron stars (T 9 ~ 2) accretion disks around low mass black holes? neutrino driven wind in core collapse supernovae? further discussion assumes a density of 10 6 g/cm 3 (X-ray burst conditions)
Cold CN(O)-Cycle Energy production rate: ε < σv > 14N ( p, γ ) T 9 < 0.08 Mg (12) Na (11) Ne (10) F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 Hot CN(O)-Cycle beta limited CNO cycle 1 1 ε 1/( λ + λ ) = const 14 O ( β + ) 15O ( β + ) Note: condition for hot CNO cycle depend also on density and Y p : on 13 N: λ > Y p p, γ λ β ρ N < σv > > A T 9 ~ 0.08-0.1 λ β Mg (12) Na (11) Ne (10) F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ne-Na cycle! 14 11 1213 9 10
Very Hot CN(O)-Cycle T 9 ~ 0.3 still beta limited Mg (12) Na (11) Ne (10) F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) 3 4 5 6 7 8 3α flow T 1/2 =1.7s 9 10 11 1213 14 Breakout processing beyond CNO cycle after breakout via: T 9 >~ 0.3 T 9 >~ 0.6 15 O(α,γ) 19 Ne 18 Ne(α,p) 21 Na Mg (12) Na (11) Ne (10) F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) 3 4 5 6 7 8 3α flow 9 10 11 1213 14
Multizone Nova model (Starrfield 2001) 10 5 Current 15 O(a,γ) Rate with X10 variation Density (g/cm 3 ) 10 4 10 3 10 2 New lower limit for density from B. Davids et al. (PRC67 (2003) 012801) Breakout 10 1 No Breakout 100.0 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 Temperature (GK)
X-ray binaries nuclear physics at the extremes Outline 1. Observations 2. Model 3. Open Questions 4. Nuclear Physics the rp process
X-rays Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, First Nobel Price 1901 for discovery of X-rays 1895 First X-ray image from 1890 (Goodspeed & Jennings, Philadelphia) Ms Roentgen s hand, 1895
Cosmic X-rays: discovered end of 1960 s: 0.5-5 kev (T=E/k=6-60 x 10 6 K) Again Nobel Price in Physics 2002 for Riccardo Giacconi
10 s Discovery First X-ray pulsar: Cen X-3 (Giacconi et al. 1971) with UHURU T~ 5s Today: ~50 First X-ray burst: 3U 1820-30 (Grindlay et al. 1976) with ANS Today: ~40 Total ~230 ~230 X-ray binaries known
Typical X-ray bursts: 10 36-10 38 erg/s duration 10 s 100s recurrence: hours-days regular or irregular Frequent and very bright phenomenon! (stars 10 33-10 35 erg/s)
X-ray binaries Others (e.g. no bursts found yet) X-ray pulsars Regular Regular pulses pulses with with periods periods of of 1-1-1000 1000 ss (Bursting pulsar: GRO J1744-28) X-ray bursters Frequent Outbursts of of 10-100s 10-100s duration duration with with lower, lower, persistent X-ray X-ray flux flux inbetween Type I bursts Burst Burst energy energy proportional to to duration duration of of preceeding inactivity period period By By far far most most of of the the bursters bursters Type II II bursts Burst Burst energy energy proportional to to duration duration of of following inactivity period period Rapid Rapid burster burster and and GRO GRO J1744-28 J1744-28??
The Model Neutron stars: 1.4 M o, 10 km radius (average density: ~ 10 14 g/cm 3 ) Neutron Star Donor Star ( normal star) Accretion Disk Typical systems: accretion rate 10-8 /10-10 M o /yr (0.5-50 kg/s/cm 2 ) orbital periods 0.01-100 days orbital separations 0.001-1 AU s
Mass transfer by Roche Lobe Overflow Star expands on main sequence. when it fills its Roche Lobe mass transfer happens through the L1 Lagrangian point
John Blondin, NC State, http://wonka.physics.ncsu.edu/~blondin/aas/
Energy generation: thermonuclear energy 4H 4 He 6.7 MeV/u 3 4 He 12 C 0.6 MeV/u ( triple alpha ) 5 4 He + 84 H 104 Pd 6.9 MeV/u (rp process) Energy generation: gravitational energy E = G M m u R = 200 MeV/u Ratio gravitation/thermonuclear ~ 30-40
Observation of thermonuclear energy: Unstable, explosive burning in bursts (release over short time) Burst energy thermonuclear Persistent flux gravitational energy
Ignition and thermonuclear runaway Burst trigger rate is triple alpha reaction 3 4 He 12 C dε nuc dε cool Nuclear energy generation rate Ignition: > dt dt ε cool ~ T 4 Cooling rate ε nuc 10-9 Triple alpha reaction rate reaction rate (cm 2 s -1 mole -1 ) 10-10 10-11 10-12 10-13 10-14 10-15 0 1 10 temperature (GK) Ignition < 0.4 GK: unstable runaway (increase in T increases ε nuc that increases T ) degenerate e-gas helps! BUT: energy release dominated by subsequent reactions!
Arguments for thermonuclear origin of type I bursts: ratio burst energy/persistent X-ray flux ~ 1/30 1/40 (ratio of thermonuclear energy to gravitational energy) type I behavior: the longer the preceeding fuel accumulation the more intense the burst spectral softening during burst decline (cooling of hot layer) Arguments for neutron star as burning site consistent with optical observations (only one star, binary) Stefan-Boltzmann L = σa T 4 eff gives typical neutron star radii Maximum luminosities consistent with Eddington luminosity for a neutron star (radiation pressure balances gravity) L edd = 4πcGM/κ=2.5 x 10 38 (M/M )(1+X) -1 erg/s. (this is non relativistic relativistic corrections need to be applied) κ=opacity, X=hydrogen mass fraction
What happens if ignition temperature > 0.4 GK at high local accretion rates m > m edd (m edd generates luminosity L edd ) temperature (GK) 0.24 0.23 0.22 0.21 0.2 0.19 0.18 0.17 10-9 Triple alpha reaction rate 0.16 10-2 10-1 10 0 accretion rate (L_edd) reaction rate (cm 2 s -1 mole -1 ) 10-10 10-11 10-12 10-13 10-14 10-15 0 1 10 temperature (GK) Stable nuclear burning
X-ray pulsar > 10 12 Gauss! High local accretion rates due to magnetic funneling of material on small surface area
Why do we care about X-ray binaries? Basic model seems to work but many open questions Unique laboratories to probe neutron stars: Over larger mass range as they get heavier Over larger spin range as they get spun up Over larger temperature range as they get heated
Some current open questions Burst timescale variations why do they vary from ~10 s to ~100 s Superbursts (rare, 1000x stronger and longer bursts) what is their origin? Contribution of X-ray bursts to galactic nucleosynthesis? NCO s (300-600Hz oscillations during bursts, rising by ~Hz) what is their origin? Crust composition what is made by nuclear burning? Magnetic field evolution? (why are there bursters and pulsars) Thermal structure? (what does observed thermal radiation tell us?) Detectable gravitatioal wave emission? (can crust reactions deform the crust so that the spinning neutron star emits gravitational waves?)
(1735-444) 24 s (rapid burster) Normal type I bursts: duration 10-100 s ~10 39 erg 3 min 4.8 h (4U 1735-44) time (days) 18 18.5 Superbursts: (discovered 2001, so far 7 seen in 6 sources) duration ~10 43 erg rare (every 3.5 yr?)
Spin up of neutron stars in X-ray binaries Unique opportunity to study NS at various stages of spin-up (and mass) Frequency (Hz) 331 330 329 4U1728-34 Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Picture: T. Strohmeyer, GSFC Rotational frequency (Hz) 400 350 300 250 200 150 A 4U 0614+091 A 4U 1608 52 A 4U 1636 536 A 4U 1728 34 A A Z Z A A KS 1731 260 4U 1735 44 4U 1820 30 4U 1705 44 Sco X 1 GX 5 1 Z GX 17+2 Z Cyg X 2 Z GX 349+2 Z GX 340+0 Spin periods lie in a surprisinly narrow range! 328 100 50 327 10 15 20 Time (s) 0 0 Neutron stars in A(toll) and Z sources F. Weber Quark matter/normal matter phase transition? (Glendenning, Weber 2000) Gravitational wave emission from deformed crust? (Bildsten, 1998)
Chandra observations of transients KS 1731-260 (Wijands 2001) Bright X-ray burster from 1988 -early 2001 Accretion shut off early 2001 Detect thermal X-ray flux from cooling crust: Too cold! (only 3 mio K) Constraints on duration of previous quiescent phase Constraints on neutron star cooling mechanisms
Nuclear physics overview Accreting Neutron Star Surface ν s X-ray s H,He fuel Thermonuclear H+He burning (rp process) ~1 m gas ~10 m ocean ashes Deep burning (EC on H, C-flash) ~100 m outer crust Crust processes (EC, pycnonuclear fusion) ~1 km Inner crust 10 km core
Nuclear reaction networks Mass fraction of nuclear species X Abundance Y = X/A (A=mass number) Number density n = ρ N A Y (ρ=mass density, N A =Avogadro) (note N A is really 1/m u works only in CGS units) Astrophysical model (hydrodynamics,.) Temperature T and Density Network: System of differential equations: dy dt i i = N j λ jyj + N j Nuclear energy generation jk i jk ρn A < σ v 1 body 2 body > Y j Y k +... N i : number of nuclei of species I produced (positive) or destroyed (negative) per reaction
Visualizing reaction network solutions Proton number (α,γ) 14 (p,γ) 27 Si (,β + ) (α,p) Lines = Flow = 13 neutron number dy dyj F i i, j = dt dt i > j dt j > i
Models: Typical temperatures and densities Temperature (GK) Density (g/cm 3 ) 2 1 0 10 7 10 6 10 5 300 400 500 600 300 400 500 600 time (s)
Burst Ignition: N (7) C (6) B (5) Be (4) Al (13) Mg (12) Na (11) Ne (10) F (9) O (8) 7 6 Li (3) He (2) 3 4 5 (1) (0) 2 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Prior to ignition : hot CNO cycle ~0.20 GK Ignition : 3α ~ 0.68 GK breakout 1: 15 O(α,γ) : Hot CNO cycle II ~0.77 GK breakout 2: 18 Ne(α,p) (~50 ms after breakout 1) Leads to rp process and main energy production
Models: Typical reaction flows Schatz et al. 1998 Schatz et al. 2001 (M. Ouellette) Phys. Rev. Lett. 68 (2001) 3471 Wallace and Woosley 1981 Hanawa et al. 1981 Koike et al. 1998 Most calculations (for example Taam 1996) F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) B (5) Be (4) Li (3) He (2) H (1) As (33) Ge (32) Ga (31) Zn (30) Cu (29) Ni (28) Co (27) Fe (26) Mn (25) Cr (24) V (23) Ti (22) Sc (21) 25262728 Ca (20) K (19) 2324 Ar (18) Cl (17) 2122 S (16) P (15) 17181920 Si (14) Al (13) 1516 Mg (12) Na (11) 14 Ne (10) 111213 5 6 3 4 0 1 2 7 8 9 10 3α reaction α+α+α 12 C Tc (43) Mo (42) Nb (41) Zr (40) Y (39) Sr (38) Rb (37) Kr (36) Br (35) Se (34) 2930 3132 33343536 Sb (51) Sn (50) In (49) Cd (48) Ag (47) Pd (46) Rh (45) Ru (44) 424344 41 37383940 αp process: 14 O+α 17 F+p 17 F+p 18 Ne 18 Ne+α 45464748 Xe (54) I (53) Te (52) 5455 53 5152 4950 56 5758 59 rp process: 41 Sc+p 42 Ti +p 43 V +p 44 Cr 44 Cr 44 V+e + +ν e 44 V+p
3α reaction F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) B (5) Be (4) Li (3) He (2) H (1) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 In detail: αp process Cu (29) Ni (28) Co (27) Fe (26) Mn (25) Cr (24) V (23) Ti (22) Sc (21) Ca (20) K (19) Ar (18) Cl (17) S (16) 111213 Ga (31) Zn (30) 2122 2324 25262728 P (15) 17181920 α+α+α 12 C Si (14) Al (13) 1516 αp process: Mg (12) Na (11) 14 Ne (10) 14 O+α 17 F+p 17 F+p 18 Ne 18 Ne+α 2930 Alternating (α,p) and (p,γ) reactions: For each proton capture there is an (α,p) reaction releasing a proton Net effect: pure He burning 3132 333
In detail: rp process Z 43 (Tc) 42 (Mo) 41 (Nb) 40 (Zr) 39 (Y) 38 (Sr) N=41 Lifetime (s) 10 10 10-10 Nuclear lifetimes: (average time between a ) proton capture : τ = 1/(Y p ρ N A <σv>) β decay : τ = T 1/2 /ln2 photodisintegration : τ = 1/λ (γ,p) 10 8 10 6 10 4 10 2 10 0 10-2 10-4 10-6 10-8 (for ρ=10 6 g/cm 3, Yp=0.7) 38 39 40 41 42 43 neutron number Proton number
The endpoint of the rp process Possibilities: Cycling (reactions that go go back to to lighter nuclei) Coulomb barrier Runs out of of fuel Fast cooling Proton capture lifetime of nuclei near the drip line Event timescale lifetime (s) 10 4 10 2 10 0 10-2 10-4 10-6 10-8 10-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 charge number Z
Endpoint: Limiting factor I SnSbTe Cycle The Sn-Sb-Te cycle (γ,a) 105 Te 106 Te 107 Te 108 Te 104 Sb 105 Sb 106 107 Sb Sb 103 Sn 104 Sn 105 Sn 106 Sn 102 In 103 In 104 In 105 In F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) B (5) Be (4) Li (3) He (2) H (1) As (33) Ge (32) Ga (31) Zn (30) Cu (29) Ni (28) Co (27) Fe (26) Mn (25) Cr (24) V (23) Ti (22) Sc (21) 25262728 Ca (20) K (19) 2324 Ar (18) Cl (17) 2122 S (16) P (15) 17181920 Si (14) Al (13) 1516 Mg (12) Na (11) 14 Ne (10) 111213 5 6 3 4 0 1 2 7 8 9 10 (p, γ) β + Known ground state α emitter Tc (43) Mo (42) Nb (41) Zr (40) Y (39) Sr (38) Rb (37) Kr (36) Br (35) Se (34) 2930 3132 33343536 Sb (51) Sn (50) In (49) Cd (48) Ag (47) Pd (46) Rh (45) Ru (44) 424344 41 37383940 45464748 Xe (54) I (53) Te (52) 5455 53 5152 4950 56 5758 59
The endpoint for full hydrogen consumption: Solar H/He ratio ~ 9 He burning: 10 He -> 41 Sc 90 H per 41 Sc available if all captured in rp process reaches A=90 + 41 = 131 (but stuck in cycle) Lower temperature: Assume only 5He-> 21 Na 45H per 21 Na available reach A=45+21=66! F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) B (5) Be (4) Li (3) He (2) H (1) 5 6 3 4 0 1 2 S (16) P (15) Si (14) Al (13) Mg (12) Na (11) Ne (10) 7 8 9 10 111213 14 1516 17181920 Tc (43) Mo (42) Nb (41) Zr (40) Y (39) Sr (38) Rb (37) Kr (36) Br (35) Se (34) As (33) Ge (32) Ga (31) Zn (30) Cu (29) Ni (28) Co (27) 33343536 Fe (26) Mn (25) 3132 Cr (24) V (23) 2930 Ti (22) Sc (21) 25262728 Ca (20) K (19) 2324 Ar (18) Cl (17) 2122 Sb (51) Sn (50) In (49) Cd (48) Ag (47) Pd (46) Rh (45) Ru (44) 424344 41 37383940 45464748 Xe (54) I (53) Te (52) 5455 53 5152 4950 Endpoint varies with conditions: peak temperature amount of H available at ignition 56 5758 59
Production of nuclei in the rp process waiting points
Movie X-ray burst
Final Composition: slow β decay (waiting point) Tc (43) Mo (42) Sb (51) Sn (50) In (49) Cd (48) Ag (47) Pd (46) Rh (45) Ru (44) Nb (41) Zr (40) Y (39) Sr (38) Rb (37) Kr (36) Br (35) 80 Se (34) 76 As (33) Ge (32) 72 Ga (31) 424344 272829303132333435363738394041 10-2 68 45464748 Te (52) 104 5455 53 5152 4950 56 5758 5960 6162636465 10-3 64 abundance 10-4 10-5 10-6 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Mass number
X-ray burst: Luminosity: luminosity (erg/g/s) 1e+17 5e+16 cycle 0e+00 10-1 300 400 500 600 Abundances of waiting points abundance 10-2 10-3 10-4 56 Ni 64 Ge 68 Se 104 Sn 72 Kr H, He abundance fuel abundance 10-5 10 0 300 400 500 600 10-1 10-2 10-3 4 He 1 H 300 400 500 600 time (s)
Nuclear data needs: Masses (proton separation energies) β-decay rates Reaction rates (p-capture and α,p) Some recent mass measurenents β-endpoint at ISOLDE and ANL Ion trap (ISOLTRAP) Separation energies Experimentally known up to here F (9) O (8) N (7) C (6) B (5) Be (4) Li (3) He (2) H (1) 5 6 3 4 0 1 2 As (33) Ge (32) Ga (31) Zn (30) Cu (29) Ni (28) Co (27) Fe (26) Mn (25) Cr (24) V (23) Ti (22) Sc (21) 25262728 Ca (20) K (19) 2324 Ar (18) Cl (17) 2122 S (16) P (15) 17181920 Si (14) Al (13) 1516 Mg (12) Na (11) 14 Ne (10) 111213 7 8 9 10 Tc (43) Mo (42) Nb (41) Zr (40) Y (39) Sr (38) Rb (37) Kr (36) Br (35) Se (34) 2930 3132 33343536 Sb (51) Sn (50) In (49) Cd (48) Ag (47) Pd (46) Rh (45) Ru (44) 424344 41 37383940 45464748 Xe (54) I (53) Te (52) Indirect information about rates from radioactive and stable beam experiments (Transfer reactions, Coulomb breakup, ) Direct reaction rate measurements with radioactive beams have begun (for example at ANL,LLN,ORNL,ISAC) 5455 53 5152 4950 56 5758 Many lifetime measurements at radioactive beam facilities (for example at LBL,GANIL, GSI, ISOLDE, MSU, ORNL) Know all β-decay rates (earth) Location of drip line known (odd Z) 59