Further Adventures: Oxygen Burning in a Convective Shell

Abstract

Two dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of convective oxygen burning shell in the presupernova evolution of a 20 solar-mass star are extended to later times. We used the VULCAN code to simulate longer evolution times than previously possible. Our results confirm the previous work of Bazan and Arnett (98) over their time span of 400s. However, at 1200s, we could identify a new steady state that is significantly different than the original one dimensional model. There is considerable overshooting at both the top and bottom boundaries of convection zone. Beyond the boundaries, the convective velocity falls off exponentially, with excitation of internal modes. The resulting mixing greatly affect the evolution of the simulations. Connections with other works of simulation of convection, in which such behavior is found in a different context, are discussed.

8 pages including 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ