Impact of current uncertainties in the 12C+12C nuclear reaction rate on intermediate-mass stars and massive white dwarfs

TL;DR

This study investigates how uncertainties in the 12C+12C nuclear reaction rate and its branching ratios influence the evolution, internal composition, and pulsation properties of ultra-massive white dwarfs and their progenitors.

Contribution

It quantifies the effects of reaction rate uncertainties on white dwarf core composition, cooling times, and pulsation characteristics, highlighting the importance of branching ratios.

Findings

Uncertainties in branching ratios cause up to 17% variation in 20Ne abundance.

Differences in cooling times can reach 6%, and crystallized core size varies by up to 15%.

Pulsation period spacing differences are less than 1 second.

Abstract

Recent determinations of the total rate of the 12C+12C nuclear reaction show non-negligible differences with the reference reaction rate commonly used in previous stellar simulations. In addition, the current uncertainties in determining each exit channel constitute one of the main uncertainties in shaping the inner structure of super asymptotic giant branch stars that could have a measurable impact on the properties of pulsating ultra-massive white dwarfs (WDs). We explore how new determinations of the nuclear reaction rate and its branching ratios affect the evolution of WD progenitors. We show that the current uncertainties in the branching ratios constitute the main uncertainty factor in determining the inner composition of ultra-massive WDs and their progenitors. We found that the use of extreme branching ratios leads to differences in the central abundances of 20Ne of at most 17%, which are translated into differences of at most 1.3 and 0.8% in the cooling times and size of the crystallized core. However, the impact on the pulsation properties is small, less than 1 s for the asymptotic period spacing. We found that the carbon burns partially in the interior of ultra-massive WD progenitors within a particular range of masses, leaving a hybrid CONe-core composition in their cores. The evolution of these new kinds of predicted objects differs substantially from the evolution of objects with pure CO cores. Differences in the size of the crystallized core and cooling times of up to 15 and 6%, respectively leading to distinct patterns in the period spacing distribution.