NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Nucleosynthesis and the nova outburstA nova outburst is the consequence of the accretion of hydrogen rich material onto a white dwarf and it can be considered as the largest hydrogen bomb in the Universe. The fuel is supplied by a secondary star in a close binary system while the strong degeneracy of the massive white dwarf acts to contain the gas during the early stages of the explosion. The containment allows the temperature in the nuclear burning region to exceed 10(sup 8)K under all circumstances. As a result a major fraction of CNO nuclei in the envelope are transformed into (beta)(sup +)-unstable nuclei. We discuss the effects of these nuclei on the evolution. Recent observational studies have shown that there are two compositional classes of novae; one which occurs on carbon-oxygen white dwarfs, and a second class that occurs on oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarfs. In this review we will concentrate on the latter explosions since they produce the most interesting nucleosynthesis. We report both on the results of new observational determinations of nova abundances and, in addition, new hydrodynamic calculations that examine the consequences of the accretion process on 1.0M(sub (circle dot)), 1.25M(sub (circle dot)), and 1.35M(sub (circle dot)) white dwarfs. Our results show that novae can produce (sup 22)Na, (sup 26)Al, and other intermediate mass nuclei in interesting amounts. We will present the results of new calculations, done with updated nuclear reaction rates and opacities, which exhibit quantitative differences with respect to published work.
Document ID
19960034415
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Starrfield, S.
(Arizona State Univ. Tempe, AZ United States)
Truran, J.W.
(Chicago Univ. Chicago, IL United States)
Wiescher, M.
(Notre Dame Univ. IN United States)
Sparks, W.M.
(Los Alamos National Lab. NM United States)
Date Acquired
August 17, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1995
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
DE96-007251
CONF-9510331-1
LA-UR-95-4462
Meeting Information
Meeting: Astrophysics Conference
Location: College Park, MD
Country: United States
Start Date: October 9, 1995
End Date: October 11, 1995
Accession Number
96N30252
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: W-7405-eng-36
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Document Inquiry

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available