TAPIR Seminar

Electron-capture supernovae (SNe), core-collapse SNe and thermonuclear type Ia SNe all have progenitor evolutions which in many aspects are still poorly understood. Our recent research has shown that refined nuclear physics is important for determining the structure of the progenitor stars of such supernovae at the time of their explosion. Furthermore, our group has demonstrated that uncertain hydrodynamic processes at the boundaries of convection zones can lead to the formation of hybrid stars and hence novel evolutionary paths to electron-capture SN and SN Ia. In addition we have shown that such processes can produce high neutron densities, synthesising a heavy element abundance distribution that fits very well with what is observed for some CEMP-s/r stars.