Issue |
A&A
Volume 513, April 2010
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | L5 | |
Number of page(s) | 4 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201014178 | |
Published online | 15 April 2010 |
Letter to the Editor
On mixing at the core-envelope interface during classical nova outbursts
1
Dept. Física i Enginyeria Nuclear, EUETIB,
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya,
c/Comte d'Urgell 187, 08036 Barcelona, Spain,
& Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, c/Gran Capità 2-4,
Ed. Nexus-201, 08034 Barcelona, Spain e-mail: jordi.jose@upc.edu
2
Dept. de Física Aplicada,
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya,
c/Esteve Terrades 5, 08860 Castelldefels, Spain
& Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, c/Gran Capità 2-4,
Ed. Nexus-201, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
3
Department of Physics & Astronomy,
Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook, NY 11794-3800, USA
4
Dipartimento di Fisica “Enrico Fermi”,
Università di Pisa and INFN, Sezione di Pisa,
Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Received:
1
February
2010
Accepted:
16
March
2010
Classical novae are powered by thermonuclear runaways
that occur on
the white dwarf component of close binary systems. During these
violent stellar events, whose energy release is only exceeded by
gamma-ray bursts and supernova explosions, about 10-4-10-5 of material is
ejected into the interstellar medium. Because of the high
peak temperatures attained during the explosion, Tpeak ~ (1-4) × 108 K, the ejecta are enriched in nuclear-processed
material relative to solar abundances, containing significant amounts
of 13C, 15N, and 17O and traces of other isotopes. The
origin of these metal enhancements observed in the ejecta is not
well-known and has puzzled theoreticians for about 40 years.
In this paper,
we present new 2-D simulations of mixing at the core-envelope
interface. We show that Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities can naturally
lead to self-enrichment of the solar-like accreted envelopes with
material from the outermost layers of the underlying white dwarf core,
at levels that agree with observations.
Key words: novae, cataclysmic variables / nuclear reactions, nucleosynthesis, abundances / convection / hydrodynamics / instabilities / turbulence
© ESO, 2010
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