On the stability of thermonuclear shell sources in stars

Abstract

We present a quantitative criterion for the thermal stability of thermonuclear shell sources. We find the thermal stability of shell sources to depend on exactly three factors: they are more stable when they are geometrically thicker, less degenerate and hotter. This confirms and unifies previously obtained results in terms of the geometry, temperature and density of the shell source, by a simplified but quantitative approach to the physics of shell nuclear burning. We present instability diagrams in the temperature-density plane for hydrogen and helium shell burning, which allow a simple evaluation of the stability conditions of such shell sources in stellar models. The performance of our stability criterion is demonstrated in various numerical models: in a 3 Msun AGB star, in helium accreting CO white dwarfs, in a helium white dwarf which is covered by a thin hydrogen envelope, and in a 1.0 Msun giant.

10 pages, 12 figures, to appear in A&A

References in corpus (1)

• Effects of rotation on the helium burning shell source in accreting white dwarfs

Cited by in corpus (26)

• The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems
• The Supernova Channel of Super-AGB Stars
• Hydrogen Burning on Accreting White Dwarfs: Stability, Recurrent Novae, and the Post-Novae Supersoft Source
• The Long-Term Evolution of Double White Dwarf Mergers
• On the evolution of rapidly rotating massive white dwarfs towards supernovae or collapses
• Are the Models for Type Ia Supernova Progenitors Consistent with the Properties of Supernova Remnants?
• Thermally Stable Nuclear Burning on Accreting White Dwarfs
• The Thermonuclear Runaway and the Classical Nova Outburst
• The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems
• Thermonuclear X-ray bursts
• Carbon-Oxygen Classical Novae are Galactic ${}^7$Li Producers as well as Potential Supernova Ia Progenitors
• On the Formation of Double White Dwarfs through Stable Mass Transfer and a Common Envelope
• Effects of rotation on the helium burning shell source in accreting white dwarfs
• The evolution of low-metallicity asymptotic giant branch stars and the formation of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars
• The effect of rotation on the stability of nuclear burning in accreting neutron stars
• Presolar grain isotopic ratios as constraints to nuclear and stellar parameters of AGB nucleosynthesis
• The late stages of the evolution of intermediate-mass primordial stars: the effects of overshooting
• An Explosive End to Intermediate-Mass Zero-Metallicity Stars and Early Universe Nucleosynthesis
• The diffusion-induced nova scenario. CK Vul and PB 8 as possible observational counterparts
• Gamma-Ray Observations of Nova Sgr 2015 No. 2 with INTEGRAL
• The most metal-rich stars in the universe: chemical contributions of low and intermediate mass asymptotic giant branch stars with metallicities between $0.04\le Z\le \mathrm{0.10.}$
• Shortest Recurrence Periods of Forced Novae
• The Thermal Stability of Helium Burning on Accreting Neutron Stars
• Structure and evolution of rotationally and tidally distorted stars
• The Accretion of Solar Material onto White Dwarfs: No Mixing with Core Material Implies that the Mass of the White Dwarf is Increasing
• Oscillatory secular modes: The thermal micropulses