Formation of black holes from He stars

TL;DR

This study models the evolution of helium stars to understand their core structures and explodability, revealing complex behaviors in core mass and compactness influenced by burning processes and stellar parameters.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how core burning stages and stellar parameters influence the final core structure and explodability of helium star progenitors.

Findings

Final core structure depends on CO core mass and 12C fraction.

Non-monotonic relation between initial mass and core compactness.

Core C/Ne burning influences iron core mass and explodability.

Abstract

Massive He stars are potential candidates of type Ib/c supernova (SN) progenitors. Understanding their final fates remains a key issue in astrophysics. In this work, we investigate the evolution of He stars with initial masses from 5 $M_\odot$ to 65 $M_\odot$, focusing on the presupernova (pre-SN) core structures to assess their explodability. Our simulations indicate that the final core structure is determined by the CO core mass and the central 12C mass fraction at the end of core He burning, affecting the properties of central C-burning and the locations of convective shells. The location of the last convective C-burning shell sets the mass of the C-free core, constraining the iron core mass and compactness. We found that the final compactness and iron core mass exhibit non-monotonic behavior with initial mass, suggesting that the boundary between neutron star and black hole formation is not a simple mass threshold. This is due to core C/Ne burning becoming neutrino dominated. This process drives stronger core contraction, ultimately increasing the iron core mass and the final compactness. In contrast, earlier core Ne/O/Si ignition and shell mergers inhibit core contraction, reducing both the iron core mass and final compactness. We also discuss the effects of metallicity and overshooting on the pre-SN core structure. These factors potentially affect the explodability of progenitors.