Sensitivity of 3D Convective Urca Simulations to Changes in Urca Reactions

Abstract

A proposed setting for thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernovae is a white dwarf that has gained mass from a companion to the point of carbon ignition in the core. There is a simmering phase in the early stages of burning that involves the formation and growth of a core convection zone. One aspect of this phase is the convective Urca process, a linking of weak nuclear reactions to convection that may alter the composition and structure of the white dwarf. Convective Urca is not well understood and requires 3D fluid simulations to realistically model. Additionally, the convection is relatively slow (Mach number less than 0.005) so a low-Mach method is needed to make simulating computationally feasible. Using the MAESTROeX low-Mach hydrodynamics code, we investigate recent changes to how the weak reactions are modeled in the convective Urca simulations. We present results that quantify the changes to the reaction rates and their impact on the evolution of the simulation.

arXiv comment9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to the Proceedings of 15th International Conference on Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows (AstroNum)

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