Pre-Supernova Outbursts via Wave Heating in Massive Stars II: Hydrogen-poor Stars

TL;DR

This study investigates how wave heating causes pre-supernova outbursts in hydrogen-poor massive stars, leading to dense winds and potential observable precursors for certain supernova types.

Contribution

It demonstrates that wave-driven outbursts can occur in hydrogen-deficient stars and links these phenomena to specific supernova observations, highlighting conditions that enable or prevent such outbursts.

Findings

Wave heating can produce dense, high-mass-loss winds before supernovae.

Outburst luminosities can reach up to 10^6 solar luminosities.

Non-linear wave breaking may inhibit outbursts in some progenitors.

Abstract

Pre-supernova (SN) outbursts from massive stars may be driven by hydrodynamical wave energy emerging from the core of the progenitor star during late nuclear burning phases. Here, we examine the effects of wave heating in stars containing little or no hydrogen, i.e., progenitors of type IIb/Ib SNe. Because there is no massive hydrogen envelope, wave energy is thermalized near the stellar surface where the overlying atmospheric mass is small but the optical depth is large. Wave energy can thus unbind this material, driving an optically thick, super-Eddington wind. Using 1D hydodynamic MESA simulations of $\sim \! 5 \, M_\odot$ He stars, we find that wave heating can drive pre-SN outbursts composed of a dense wind whose mass loss rate can exceed $\sim \! 0.1 \, M_\odot/{\rm yr}$. The wind terminal velocities are a few $100 \, {\rm km}/{\rm s}$, and outburst luminosities can reach $\sim \! 10^6 \, L_\odot$. Wave-driven outbursts may be linked with observed or inferred pre-SN outbursts of type Ibn/transitional/transformational SNe, and pre-SN wave-driven mass loss is a good candidate to produce these types of SNe. However, we also show that non-linear wave breaking in the core of the star may prevent such outbursts in stars with thick convective helium-burning shells. Hence, only a limited subset of SN progenitors are likely to experience wave-driven pre-SN outbursts.