Sensitivity of ${}^{44}$Ti and ${}^{56}$Ni production in CCSN shock-driven nucleosynthesis to reaction rates

Abstract

Recent observational advances have enabled high resolution mapping of ${}^{44}$Ti in core-collapse supernova (CCSN) remnants. Comparisons between observations and models provide stringent constraints on the CCSN mechanism. However, past work has identified several uncertain nuclear reaction rates that influence ${}^{44}$Ti and ${}^{56}$Ni production in post-processing model calculations. We evolved one dimensional models of $15M_{\odot }$, $18M_{\odot }$, $22M_{\odot }$ and $25M_{\odot }$ stars from zero-age main sequence through CCSN using {\tt MESA} (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) and investigated the previously identified reaction rate sensitivities of ${}^{44}$Ti and ${}^{56}$Ni production. We tested the robustness of our results by making various assumptions about the CCSN explosion energy and mass-cut. We found a number of reactions that have a significant impact on the nucleosynthesis of ${}^{44}$Ti and ${}^{56}$Ni, particularly for lower progenitor masses. Notably, the reaction rates ${}^{13}\mathrm{N}(\hat{I}\pm ,p{)}^{16}\mathrm{O}$, ${}^{17}\mathrm{F}(\hat{I}\pm ,p{)}^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$, ${}^{52}\mathrm{Fe}(\hat{I}\pm ,p{)}^{55}\mathrm{Co}$, ${}^{56}\mathrm{Ni}(\hat{I}\pm ,p{)}^{59}\mathrm{Cu}$, ${}^{57}\mathrm{Ni}(n,p{)}^{57}\mathrm{Co}$, ${}^{56}\mathrm{Co}(p,n{)}^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$, ${}^{39}\mathrm{K}(p,{\hat{I}}^3{)}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$, ${}^{47}\mathrm{V}(p,{\hat{I}}^3{)}^{48}\mathrm{Cr}$, ${}^{52}\mathrm{Mn}(p,{\hat{I}}^3{)}^{53}\mathrm{Fe}$, ${}^{57}\mathrm{Co}(p,{\hat{I}}^3{)}^{58}\mathrm{Ni}$, and ${}^{39}\mathrm{K}(p,\hat{I}\pm {)}^{36}\mathrm{Ar}$ are influential for a large number of model conditions. Furthermore, we found the list of influential reactions identified by previous post-processing studies of CCSN shock-driven nucleosynthesis is likely incomplete, motivating future larger-scale sensitivity studies.

15 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables; Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal