The Effects of Changes in Reaction Rates on Simulations of Nova Explosions
Abstract
Classical novae participate in the cycle of Galactic chemical evolution in which grains and metal enriched gas in their ejecta, supplementing those of supernovae, AGB stars, and Wolf-Rayet stars, are a source of heavy elements for the ISM. Once in the diffuse gas, this material is mixed with the existing gases and then incorporated into young stars and planetary systems during star formation. Infrared observations have confirmed the presence of carbon, SiC, hydrocarbons, and oxygen-rich silicate grains in nova ejecta, suggesting that some fraction of the pre-solar grains identified in meteoritic material come from novae. The mean mass returned by a nova outburst to the ISM probably exceeds ~ 2 × 10-4 Msolar. Using the observed nova rate of 35+/-11 per year in our Galaxy, it follows that novae introduce more than ~ 7 × 10-3 Msolar yr-1 of processed matter into the ISM. Novae are expected to be the major source of 15N and 17O in the Galaxy and to contribute to the abundances of other isotopes in this atomic mass range. Here, we report on how changes in the nuclear reaction rates affect the properties of the outburst and alter the predictions of the contributions of novae to Galactic chemical evolution.
- Publication:
-
Tours Symposium on Nuclear Physics VI
- Pub Date:
- February 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.2713538
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0706.0558
- Bibcode:
- 2007AIPC..891..364S
- Keywords:
-
- 26.30.+k;
- 26.50.+x;
- 97.30.Qt;
- 98.35.Ac;
- 98.35.Bd;
- Nucleosynthesis in novae supernovae and other explosive environments;
- Nuclear physics aspects of novae supernovae and other explosive environments;
- Novae dwarf novae recurrent novae and other cataclysmic variables;
- Origin formation evolution age and star formation;
- Chemical composition and chemical evolution;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 9 pages, 2 figures, as it appeared in the Proceedings of the Tours 2006 Symposium on Nuclear Physics