Equation of State Effects in Core-Collapse Supernovae

Fast Neutrino Flavor Conversions Can Help and Hinder Neutrino-Driven Explosions

We present the first simulations of core-collapse supernovae in axial symmetry with feedback from fast neutrino flavor conversion (FFC). Our schematic treatment of FFCs assumes instantaneous flavor equilibration under the constraint of lepton-number conservation individually for each flavor. Systematically varying the spatial domain where FFCs are assumed to occur, we find that they facilitate SN explosions in low-mass (9-12M_{⊙}) progenitors that otherwise explode with longer time delays, whereas FFCs weaken the tendency to explode of higher-mass (around 20M_{⊙}) progenitors.

Normalizing Flows for Microscopic Many-Body Calculations: An Application to the Nuclear Equation of State

Normalizing flows are a class of machine learning models used to construct a complex distribution through a bijective mapping of a simple base distribution. We demonstrate that normalizing flows are particularly well suited as a Monte Carlo integration framework for quantum many-body calculations that require the repeated evaluation of high-dimensional integrals across smoothly varying integrands and integration regions. As an example, we consider the finite-temperature nuclear equation of state. An important advantage of normalizing flows is the ability to build highly expressive models of the target integrand, which we demonstrate enables precise evaluations of the nuclear free energy and its derivatives. Furthermore, we show that a normalizing flow model trained on one target integrand can be used to efficiently calculate related integrals when the temperature, density, or nuclear force is varied. This work will support future efforts to build microscopic equations of state for numerical simulations of supernovae and neutron star mergers that employ state-of-the-art nuclear forces and many-body methods.

3D simulations of oxygen shell burning with and without magnetic fields

We present a first 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of convective oxygen and neon shell burning in a non-rotating [Formula: see text] star shortly before core collapse to study the generation of magnetic fields in supernova progenitors. We also run a purely hydrodynamic control simulation to gauge the impact of the magnetic fields on the convective flow and on convective boundary mixing. After about 17 convective turnover times, the magnetic field is approaching saturation levels in the oxygen shell with an average field strength of [Formula: see text], and does not reach kinetic equipartition. The field remains dominated by small-to-medium scales, and the dipole field strength at the base of the oxygen shell is only [Formula: see text]. The angle-averaged diagonal components of the Maxwell stress tensor mirror those of the Reynolds stress tensor, but are about one order of magnitude smaller. The shear flow at the oxygen-neon shell interface creates relatively strong fields parallel to the convective boundary, which noticeably inhibit the turbulent entrainment of neon into the oxygen shell. The reduced ingestion of neon lowers the nuclear energy generation rate in the oxygen shell and thereby slightly slows down the convective flow. Aside from this indirect effect, we find that magnetic fields do not appreciably alter the flow inside the oxygen shell. We discuss the implications of our results for the subsequent core-collapse supernova and stress the need for longer simulations, resolution studies, and an investigation of non-ideal effects for a better understanding of magnetic fields in supernova progenitors.