Nucleosynthesis in magneto-rotational supernovae

TL;DR

This paper investigates nucleosynthesis in magneto-rotational supernovae using 2D simulations with neutrino transport, revealing their potential role in producing heavy elements and contributing to early galactic chemical evolution.

Contribution

First detailed 2D neutrino transport simulations of MR-SNe exploring the impact of rotation and magnetic fields on nucleosynthesis outcomes.

Findings

Heavy r-process elements up to the third peak are produced in strong magnetic field models.

Jet-like explosions with proton-rich jets and neutron-rich r-process regions are observed.

Results align with observations of old stars and supernova remnants, supporting MR-SNe as heavy element sources.

Abstract

We present the nucleosynthesis of magneto-rotational supernovae (MR-SNe) including neutrino-driven and magneto-rotational-driven ejecta based, for the first time, on 2D simulations with accurate neutrino transport. The models analysed here have different rotation and magnetic fields, allowing us to explore the impact of these two key ingredients. The accurate neutrino transport of the simulations is critical to analyse the slightly neutron-rich and proton-rich ejecta that are similar to the, also neutrino-driven, ejecta in standard supernovae. In the model with strong magnetic field, the r-process produces heavy elements up to the third r-process peak ($A\sim 195$), in agreement with previous works. This model presents a jet-like explosion with proton-rich jets surrounded by neutron-rich material where the r-process occurs. We have estimated a lower limit for $^{56}$Ni of $2.5\times10^{-2} M_\odot$, which is still well below the expected hypernova value. Longer simulations including the accretion disc evolution are required to get a final prediction. In addition, we have found that the late evolution is critical in a model with weak magnetic field in which late-ejected neutron-rich matter produces elements up to the second r-process peak. Even if we cannot yet provide conclusions for hypernova nucleosynthesis, our results agree with observations of old stars and radioactive isotopes in supernova remnants. This makes MR-SNe a good additional scenario to neutron star mergers for the synthesis of heavy elements and brings us closer to understand their origin and the role of MR-SNe in the early Galaxy nucleosynthesis.