We construct a 3D radiative-hydrodynamic model atmosphere of parameters Teff = 4820 K, log g = 4.5, and solar chemical composition. The theoretical line profiles computed with this model are asymmetric, with their bisectors having a characteristic C-shape and their core wavelengths shifted with respect to their laboratory values. The line bisectors span from about 10 to 250 m/s, depending on line strength, with the stronger features showing larger span. The corresponding core wavelength shifts range from about -200 m/s for the weak Fe I lines to almost +100 m/s in the strong Fe I features. Based on observational results for the Sun, we argue that there should be no core wavelength shift for Fe I lines of EW > 100 mA. The cores of the strongest lines show contributions from the uncertain top layers of the model, where non-LTE effects and the presence of the chromosphere, which are important in real stars, are not accounted for. The comparison of model predictions to observed Fe I line bisectors and core wavelength shifts for a reference star, HIP86400, shows excellent agreement, with the exception of the core wavelength shifts of the strongest features, for which we suspect inaccurate theoretical values. Since this limitation does not affect the predicted line equivalent widths significantly, we consider our 3D model validated for photospheric abundance work.
Local-box hydrodynamical model atmospheres provide statistical information about a star's emergent radiation field which allows one to predict the level of its granulation-related micro-variability. Space-based photometry is now sufficiently accurate to test model predictions. We aim to model the photometric granulation background of HD49933 as well as the Sun, and compare the predictions to the measurements obtained by the COROT and SOHO satellite missions. We construct hydrodynamical model atmospheres representing HD49933 and the Sun, and use a previously developed scaling technique to obtai…
The solar abundances have undergone a major downward revision in the last decade, reputedly as a result of employing 3D hydrodynamical simulations to model the inhomogeneous structure of the solar photosphere. The very low oxygen abundance advocated by Asplund et al. (2004), A(O)=8.66, together with the downward revision of the carbon and nitrogen abundances, has created serious problems for solar models to explain the helioseismic measurements. In an effort to contribute to the dispute we have re-derived photospheric abundances of several elements independently of previous analysis. We applie…
The solar granulation is known for a long time to be a surface manifestation of convection. Thanks to the current space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler, it is now possible to observe in disk-integrated intensity the signature of this phenomena in a growing number of stars. The space-based photometric measurements show that the global brightness fluctuations and the lifetime associated with granulation obeys characteristic scaling relations. We thus aim at providing a simple theoretical modeling to reproduce these scaling relations and subsequently at inferring the physical properties of granul…
Hydrodynamical, i.e. multi-dimensional and time-dependent, model atmospheres of late-type stars have reached a high level of realism. They are commonly applied in high-fidelity work on stellar abundances but also allow the study of processes that are not modelled in standard, one-dimensional hydrostatic model atmospheres. Here, we discuss two observational aspects that emerge from such processes, the photometric granulation background and the spectroscopic microturbulence. We use CO5BOLD hydrodynamical model atmospheres to characterize the total granular brightness fluctuations and characteris…
We have obtained ultra-high quality spectra (R=180,000; S/N>300) with unprecedented wavelength coverage (4400 to 7400 A) for a number of stars covering most of the HR diagram in order to test the predictions of models of stellar surface convection. Line bisectors and core wavelength shifts are both measured and modeled, allowing us to validate and/or reveal the limitations of state-of-the-art hydrodynamic model atmospheres of different stellar parameters. We show the status of our project and preliminary results.
Flows on the solar surface are linked to solar activity, and LCT is one of the standard techniques for capturing the dynamics of these processes by cross-correlating solar images. However, the link between contrast variations in successive images to the underlying plasma motions has to be quantitatively confirmed. Radiation hydrodynamics simulations of solar granulation (e.g.,CO5BOLD) provide access to both the wavelength-integrated, emergent continuum intensity and the 3D velocity field at various heights in the solar atmosphere. Thus, applying LCT to continuum images yields horizontal proper…
The purpose of this paper is to characterize the statistical properties of solar granulation in the photosphere and low chromosphere up to 650 km. We use velocity and intensity variations obtained at different atmospheric heights from observations in BaII 4554 A. The observations were done during good seeing conditions at the VTT at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife. The line core forms rather high in the atmosphere and allows granulation properties to be studied at heights that have been not accessed before in similar studies. In addition, we analyze the synthetic profiles of the BaII 45…
A very high resolution (R=200,000), high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N=340) blue-green spectrum of the very metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-2.6) red giant star HD122563 has been obtained by us at McDonald Observatory. We measure the asymmetries and core wavelengths of a set of unblended FeI lines covering a wide range of line strength. Line bisectors exhibit the characteristic C-shape signature of surface convection (granulation) and they span from about 100 m/s in the strongest FeI features to 800 m/s in the weakest ones. Core wavelength shifts range from about -100 to -900 m/s, depending on line strength. …
Context. It has been suggested that convection in Red Supergiant (RSG) stars gives rise to large-scale granules causing observable surface inhomogeneities. This convection is also extremely vigorous, and suspected to be one of the causes of mass-loss in RSGs. It must thus be understood in details. Evidence has been accumulated that there are asymmetries in the photospheres of RSGs, but detailedstudies of granulation are still lacking. Interferometric observations offer an exciting possibility to tackle this question, but they are still often interpreted using smooth symmetrical limb-darkened i…
We make use of three dimensional hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the effects of granulation on the Cu I lines of Mult. 1 in the near UV, at 324.7 nm and 327.3 nm. These lines remain strong even at very low metallicity and provide the opportunity to study the chemical evolution of Cu in the metal-poor populations. We find very strong granulation effects on these lines. In terms of abundances the neglect of such effects can lead to an overestimate of the A(Cu) by as much as 0.8 dex in dwarf stars. Comparison of our computations with stars in the metal-poor Globular Clusters NGC 6752 an…
The ANTARES radiation hydrodynamics code is capable of simulating the solar granulation in detail unequaled by direct observation. We introduce a state-of-the-art numerical tool to the solar physics community and demonstrate its applicability to model the solar granulation. The code is based on the weighted essentially non-oscillatory finite volume method and by its implementation of local mesh refinement is also capable of simulating turbulent fluids. While the ANTARES code already provides promising insights into small-scale dynamical processes occurring in the quiet-Sun photosphere, it will…
The bands of diatomic molecules are important abundance indicators, especially in metal-poor stars, where they are still measurable in metallicity regimes where the atomic lines of their constituting metallic elements have become vanishingly small. In order to use them for abundance determinations it is imperative to understand the formation of these bands. In this contribution we report on our results obtained using CO5BOLD hydrodynamical simulations. Some effects that are qualitatively different from what found in 1D computations are highlighted. Due to the large number of lines that form th…
We discuss the general design of the ANTARES code which is intended for simulations in stellar hydrodynamics with radiative transfer and realistic microphysics in 1D, 2D and 3D. We then compare the quality of various numerical methods. We have applied ANTARES in order to obtain high resolution simulations of solar granulation which we describe and analyze. In order to obtain high resolution, we apply grid refinement to a region predominantly occupied by an exploding granule. Strong, rapidly rotating vortex tubes of small diameter (~100 km) generated by the downdrafts and ascending into the pho…
Towards understanding stellar variability at the sub m/s level: granulation-induced variability across the optical spectrum
University of Warwick（华威大学）；University of Graz, Institute of Physics（格拉茨大学物理研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung（马克斯·普朗克太阳系统研究所）；Flinders University（弗林德斯大学）；Queen’s University Belfast（贝尔法斯特女王大学）
The atmospheres of cool main-sequence stars are structured by convective flows from the convective envelope that penetrate the optically thin layers and lead to structuring of the stellar atmospheres analogous to solar granulation. The flows have considerable influence on the 3D structure of temperature and pressure and affect the profiles of spectral lines formed in the photosphere. For the set of six 3D radiative (M)HD simulations of cool main-sequence stars described in the first paper of this series, we analyse the near-surface layers. We aim at describing the properties of granulation of …
The granulation background seen in the power spectrum of a solar-like oscillator poses a serious challenge for extracting precise and detailed information about the stellar oscillations. Using a 3D hydrodynamical simulation of the Sun computed with CO$^5$BOLD, we investigate various background models to infer, using a Bayesian methodology, which one provides the best fit to the background in the simulated power spectrum. We find that the best fit is provided by an expression including the overall power level and two characteristic frequencies, one with an exponent of 2 and one with a free expo…
The atmospheres of cool stars are temporally and spatially inhomogeneous due to the effects of convection.The influence of this inhomogeneity, referred to as granulation, on colours has never been investigated over a large range of effective temperatures and gravities. We aim to study, in a quantitative way, the impact of granulation on colours. We use the CIFIST grid of CO5BOLD hydrodynamical models to compute emerging fluxes. These in turn are used to compute theoretical colours in the UBVRI,2MASS,Hipparcos,Gaia and SDSS systems. Every CO5BOLD model has a corresponding one dimensional (1D) p…
Stellar activity and convection-related surface structures might cause bias in planet detection and characterization that use these transits. Surface convection simulations help to quantify the granulation signal. We used realistic three-dimensional radiative hydrodynamical simulations from the Stagger grid and synthetic images computed with the radiative transfer code Optim3D to model the transits of three prototype planets: a hot Jupiter, a hot Neptune, and a terrestrial planet. We computed intensity maps from RHD simulations of the Sun and a K-dwarf star at different wavelength bands from o…
High-precision photometric data from space missions have improved our understanding of stellar granulation. These observations have shown with precision the stochastic brightness fluctuations of stars across the HR diagram, allowing us to better understand how stellar surface convection reacts to a change in stellar parameters. These fluctuations need to be understood and quantified in order to improve the detection and characterization of exoplanets. In this work, we provide new scaling relations of two characteristic properties of the brightness fluctuations time series, the standard deviati…
Balmer lines serve as important indicators of stellar effective temperatures in late-type stellar spectra. One of their modelling uncertainties is the influence of convective flows on their shape. We aim to characterize the influence of convection on the wings of Balmer lines. We perform a differential comparison of synthetic Balmer line profiles obtained from 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres and 1D hydrostatic standard ones. The model parameters are appropriate for F,G,K dwarf and subgiant stars of metallicity ranging from solar to 1/1000 solar. The shape of the Balmer lines predicted by 3…
Context. Copper is an element whose interesting evolution with metallicity is not fully understood. Observations of copper abundances rely on a very limited number of lines, the strongest are the Cu I lines of Mult. 1 at 324.7 nm and 327.3 nm which can be measured even at extremely low metallicities. Aims. We investigate the quality of these lines as abundance indicators. Method. We measure these lines in two turn-off (TO) stars in the Globular Cluster NGC 6752 and two TO stars in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397 and derive abundances with 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres computed with the CO5…
Spectroscopy across spatially resolved stellar surfaces reveals spectral line profiles free from rotational broadening, whose gradual changes from disk center toward the stellar limb reflect an atmospheric fine structure that is possible to model by 3-D hydrodynamics. Previous studies of photospheric spectral lines across stellar disks exist for the Sun and HD209458 (G0 V) and are now extended to the planet-hosting HD189733A to sample a cooler K-type star and explore the future potential of the method. During exoplanet transit, stellar surface portions successively become hidden and differenti…
Using radiative magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of the magnetised solar photosphere and detailed spectro-polarimetric diagnostics with the FeI $6301.5\mathrmÅ$ and $6302.5\mathrmÅ$ photospheric lines in the local thermodynamic equilibrium approximation, we model active solar granulation as if it was observed at the solar limb. We analyse general properties of the radiation across the solar limb, such as the continuum and the line core limb darkening and the granulation contrast. We demonstrate the presence of profiles with both emission and absorption features at the simulated solar limb, and…
Solar photospheric spectrum microvariability III. Radial velocities and line profiles in magnetic active-region granulation
Lund University（隆德大学）；Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Landessternwarte（海德堡大学天文中心，州立天文台）；Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam（波茨坦阿诺德·爱因斯坦天体物理研究所）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利群岛天体物理学研究所）；Texas Advanced Computing Center, The University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校高级计算中心）
Stellar activity and, in particular, convection-related surface structures, potentially cause fluctuations that can affect the transit light curves. Surface convection simulations can help the interpretation of ToV. We used realistic three-dimensional radiative hydrodynamical simulation of the Sun from the Stagger-grid and synthetic images computed with the radiative transfer code Optim3D to provide predictions for the transit of Venus in 2004 observed by the satellite ACRIMSAT. We computed intensity maps from RHD simulation of the Sun and produced synthetic stellar disk image. We computed the…
In this work we present first results of our current project aimed at combining the 3D hydrodynamical stellar atmosphere approach with non-LTE (NLTE) spectral line synthesis for a number of key chemical species. We carried out a full 3D-NLTE spectrum synthesis of the oxygen IR 777 nm triplet, using a modified and improved version of our NLTE3D package to calculate departure coefficients for the atomic levels of oxygen in a CO5BOLD 3D hydrodynamical solar model atmosphere. Spectral line synthesis was subsequently performed with the Linfor 3D code. In agreement with previous studies, we find tha…
Recent results from high-resolution solar granulation observations indicate the existence of a population of small granular cells that are smaller than 600 km in diameter. These small convective cells strongly contribute to the total area of granules and are located in the intergranular lanes, where they form clusters and chains. We study high-resolution radiation hydrodynamics simulations of the upper convection zone and photosphere to detect small granular cells, define their spatial alignment, and analyze their physical properties. We developed an automated image-segmentation algorithm spec…
Aims. We used realistic three-dimensional (3D) radiative hydrodynamical (RHD) simulations from the Stagger-grid and synthetic images computed with the radiative transfer code Optim3D to provide interferometric observables to extract the signature of stellar granulation and transiting planets. Methods. We computed intensity maps from RHD simulations for twelve interferometric instruments covering wavelengths ranging from optical to infrared. The stellar surface asymmetries in the brightness distribution mostly affect closure phases. We compared the closure phases of the system star with a trans…
Context. Theoretical predictions from models of red giant branch stars are a valuable tool for various applications in astrophysics ranging from galactic chemical evolution to studies of exoplanetary systems. Aims. We use the radiative transfer code OPTIM3D and realistic 3D radiative-hydrodynamical (RHD) surface convection simulations of red giants to explore the impact of granulation on interferometric observables. Methods. We compute intensity maps for the 3D simulation snapshots in two filters: in the optical at 5000 \pm 300 Å and in the K band 2.14 $\pm$ 0.26 μm FLUOR filter, corresponding…
Continued progress in observational stellar astrophysics requires a deep understanding of the underlying convection dynamics. We present results of realistic 3D radiative hydrodynamic simulations of the outer layers of a moderate mass star (1.47 Msun), including the full convection zone, the overshoot region, and the top layers of the radiative zone. The simulation results show that the surface granulation has a broad range of scales, from 2 to 12 Mm, and that large granules are organized in well-defined clusters, consisting of several granules. Comparison of the mean structure profiles from 3…
The influence of the convective structure of the solar photosphere on the shifts of spectral lines of iron was studied. Line profiles in the visible and infrared spectrum were synthesized with the use of 2-D time-dependent hydrodynamic solar model atmospheres. The dependence of line shifts on excitation potential, wavelength, and line strength was analyzed, along with the depression contribution functions. The line shifts were found to depend on the location of the line formation region in convective cells and the difference between the line depression contributions from granules and intergran…
Current state-of-the-art computational modeling makes it possible to build realistic models of stellar convection zones and atmospheres that take into account chemical composition, radiative effects, ionization, and turbulence. The standard 1D mixing-length-based evolutionary models are not able to capture many physical processes of the stellar interior dynamics. Mixing-length models provide an initial approximation of stellar structure that can be used to initialize 3D radiative hydrodynamics simulations which include realistic modeling of turbulence, radiation, and other phenomena. In this p…
We present the implementation of a radiative transfer solver with coherent scattering in the new BIFROST code for radiative magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of stellar surface convection. The code is fully parallelized using MPI domain decomposition, which allows for large grid sizes and improved resolution of hydrodynamical structures. We apply the code to simulate the surface granulation in a solar-type star, ignoring magnetic fields, and investigate the importance of coherent scattering for the atmospheric structure. A scattering term is added to the radiative transfer equation, req…
Context. The red supergiant (RSG) Betelgeuse is an irregular variable star. Convection may play an important role in understanding this variability. Interferometric observations can be interpreted using sophisticated simulations of stellar convection. Aims. We compare the visibility curves and closure phases obtained from our 3D simulation of RSG convection with CO5BOLD to various interferometric observations of Betelgeuse from the optical to the H band in order to characterize and measure the convection pattern on this star. Methods. We use 3D radiative-hydrodynamics (RHD) simulation to compu…
We present an investigation of the velocity fields in early to late M-type star hydrodynamic models, and we simulate their influence on FeH molecular line shapes. The M star model parameters range between log g of 3.0 - 5.0 and Teff of 2500 K and 4000 K. Our aim is to characterize the Teff- and log g -dependence of the velocity fields and express them in terms of micro- and macro-turbulent velocities in the one dimensional sense. We present also a direct comparison between 3D hydrodynamical velocity fields and 1D turbulent velocities. The velocity fields strongly affect the line shapes of FeH,…
Context. It has been shown that convection in red supergiant stars gives rise to large granules causing surface inhomogeneities together with shock waves in the photosphere. The resulting motion of the photocenter (on time scales ranging from months to years) could possibly have adverse effects on the parallax determination with Gaia. Aims. We explore the impact of the granulation on the photocentric and photometric variability. We quantify these effects in order to better characterize the error possibly altering the parallax. Methods. We use 3D radiative-hydrodynamics simulations of convectio…
In this review we discuss possible systematic errors inherent in classical 1D LTE abundance analyses of late-type stars for the light elements (here: H, He, Li, Be and B). The advent of realistic 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres and the availability of non-LTE line formation codes place the stellar analyses on a much firmer footing and indeed drastically modify the astrophysical interpretations in many cases, especially at low metallicities. For the Teff-sensitive hydrogen lines both stellar granulation and non-LTE are likely important but the combination of the two has not yet been fully e…
Recent observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) appear to show impulsive brightenings in high temperature lines, which when combined with simultaneous ground based observations in H$α$, appear co-spatial to Ellerman Bombs (EBs). We use the RADYN 1-dimensional radiative transfer code in an attempt to try and reproduce the observed line profiles and simulate the atmospheric conditions of these events. Combined with the MULTI/RH line synthesis codes, we compute the H$α$, Ca II 8542~Å, and Mg II h \& k lines for these simulated events and compare them to previous observat…
CONTEXT: High-resolution spectroscopy across spatially resolved stellar surfaces aims at obtaining spectral-line profiles that are free from rotational broadening; the gradual changes of these profiles from disk center toward the stellar limb reveal properties of atmospheric fine structure, which are possible to model with 3-D hydrodynamics. AIMS: Previous such studies have only been carried out for the Sun but are now extended to other stars. In this work, profiles of photospheric spectral lines are retrieved across the disk of the planet-hosting star HD209458 (G0V). METHODS: During exoplanet…
We establish a quantitative relationship between photometric and spectroscopic detections of solar-like oscillations using ab initio, three-dimensional (3D), hydrodynamical numerical simulations of stellar atmospheres. We present a theoretical derivation as proof of concept for our method. We perform realistic spectral line formation calculations to quantify the ratio between luminosity and radial velocity amplitude for two case studies: the Sun and the red giant $ε$ Tau. Luminosity amplitudes are computed based on the bolometric flux predicted by 3D simulations with granulation background mod…
Recent developments in the three-dimensional (3D) spectral synthesis code Linfor3D have meant that, for the first time, large spectral wavelength regions, such as molecular bands, can be synthesised with it in a short amount of time. A detailed spectral analysis of the synthetic G-band for several dwarf turn-off-type 3D atmospheres (5850 <= T_eff [K] <= 6550, 4.0 <= log g <= 4.5, -3.0 <= [Fe/H] <= -1.0) was conducted, under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium. We also examine carbon and oxygen molecule formation at various metallicity regimes and discuss the impact it has on the …
We present a theoretical study of the effects and signatures of realistic velocity field and atmospheric inhomogeneities associated with convective motions at the surface of cool late-type stars on the emergent profiles of iron spectral lines for a large range in stellar parameters. We compute 3D spectral line flux profiles under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) by employing state-of-the-art, time-dependent, 3D, radiative-hydrodynamical atmosphere models from the Stagger-grid. A set of 35 real unblended, optical FeI and FeII lines of varying excitation potential are cons…
The near-surface layers of cool main-sequence stars are structured by convective flows, which are overshooting into the atmosphere. The flows and the associated spatio-temporal variations of density and temperature affect spectral line profiles and thus have an impact on estimates of stellar properties such as effective temperature, gravitational acceleration, and abundances. We aim at identifying distinctive properties of the thermodynamic structure of the atmospheres of different stars and understand their causes. We ran comprehensive 3D radiation hydrodynamics simulations of the near-surfac…
We conduct a rigorous examination of the nearby red supergiant Betelgeuse by drawing on the synthesis of new observational data and three different modeling techniques. Our observational results include the release of new, processed photometric measurements collected with the space-based SMEI instrument prior to Betelgeuse's recent, unprecedented dimming event. We detect the first radial overtone in the photometric data and report a period of $185\pm13.5$ d. Our theoretical predictions include self-consistent results from multi-timescale evolutionary, oscillatory, and hydrodynamic simulations …
Although oxygen is an important tracer of the early Galactic evolution, its abundance trends with metallicity are still relatively poorly known at [Fe/H] < -2.5. This is in part due to a lack of reliable oxygen abundance indicators in the metal-poor stars, in part due to shortcomings in 1D LTE abundance analyses. In this study we determined the oxygen abundance in the metal-poor halo giant HD 122563 using a 3D hydrodynamical CO5BOLD model atmosphere. Our main goal was to understand whether a 3D LTE analysis may help to improve the reliability of oxygen abundances determined from OH UV lines in…
We present radiative hydrodynamic simulations of solar flares generated by the RADYN and RH codes to study the perturbations induced in photospheric Fe I lines by electron beam heating. We investigate how variations in the beam parameters result in discernible differences in the induced photospheric velocities. Line synthesis revealed a significant chromospheric contribution to the line profiles resulting in an apparent red asymmetry by as much as 40 m/s close to the time of maximum beam heating which was not reflective of the upflow velocities that arose from the radiative hydrodynamic simula…
Context. Classical novae are thermonuclear explosions that take place in the envelopes of accreting white dwarfs in stellar binary systems. The material transferred onto the white dwarf piles up under degenerate conditions, driving a thermonuclear runaway. In those outbursts, about 10-7 - 10-3 Msun, enriched in CNO and, sometimes, other intermediate-mass elements (e.g., Ne, Na, Mg, or Al, for ONe novae) are ejected into the interstellar medium. The large concentrations of metals spectroscopically inferred in the nova ejecta reveal that the (solar-like) material transferred from the secondary m…
The use of hydrodynamical simulations, the selection of atomic data, and the computation of deviations from local thermodynamical equilibrium for the analysis of the solar spectra have implied a downward revision of the solar metallicity. We are in the process of using the latest simulations computed with the CO5BOLD code to reassess the solar chemical composition. We determine the solar photospheric carbon abundance by using a radiation-hydrodynamical CO5BOLD model, and compute the departures from local thermodynamical equilibrium by using the Kiel code. We measure equivalent widths of atomic…
Context. The mass loss from massive stars is not understood well. Eta Car is a unique object for studying the massive stellar wind during the LBV phase. It is also an eccentric binary with a period of 5.54 yr. The nature of both stars is uncertain, although we know from X-ray studies that there is a wind-wind collision whose properties change with orbital phase. Methods. Observations of Eta Car were carried out with the ESO VLTI and the AMBER instrument between approximately five and seven months before the August 2014 periastron passage. Velocity-resolved aperture-synthesis images were recons…
A crucial ingredient in population synthesis studies involving massive stars is the determination of whether they explode or implode in the end. While the final fate of a massive star is sensitive to its core structure at the onset of collapse, the existing binary population synthesis studies do not reach core-collapse. Instead, they employ simple prescriptions to infer their final fates without knowing the presupernova core structure. We explore a potential solution to this problem by treating the carbon-oxygen (CO) core independently from the rest of the star. Using the implicit hydrodynamic…
Motivated by the fact that calibrated light curves of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have become a major tool to determine the expansion history of the Universe, considerable attention has been given to, both, observations and models of these events over the past 15 years. Here, we summarize new observational constraints, address recent progress in modeling Type Ia supernovae by means of three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, and discuss several of the still open questions. It will be be shown that the new models have considerable predictive power which allows us to study observable properti…
We computed a comprehensive set of theoretical ultraviolet spectra of hot, massive stars with the radiation-hydrodynamics code WM-Basic. This model atmosphere and spectral synthesis code is optimized for computing the strong P Cygni-type lines originating in the winds of hot stars, which are the strongest features in the ultraviolet spectral region. The computed set is suitable as a spectral library for inclusion in evolutionary synthesis models of star clusters and star-forming galaxies. The chosen stellar parameters cover the upper left Hertzsprung-Russell diagram at L >~ 10^2.75 Lsun and T_…
Aims. We present here a new theoretical approach to population synthesis. The aim is to predict colour magnitude diagrams (CMDs) for huge numbers of stars. With this method we generate synthetic CMDs for N-body simulations of galaxies. Sophisticated hydrodynamic N-body models of galaxies require equal quality simulations of the photometric properties of their stellar content. The only prerequisite for the method to work is very little information on the star formation and chemical enrichment histories, i.e. the age and metallicity of all star-particles as a function of time. The method takes i…
We investigate the neutrino-process in an energetic Type Ic supernova (SN Ic) and resultant productions of the light elements including boron and its stable isotopes. SN Ic is a very unique boron source because it can produce boron through not only spallation reactions as discussed in Nakamura & Shigeyama (2004) but also the neutrino-process. The neutrino-process is considered to occur in core-collapse supernovae and previous studies were limited to Type II supernovae (SNe II). Although the progenitor star of an SN Ic does not posses a He envelope so that 7Li production via the neutrino-proces…
White dwarf-neutron star binaries generate detectable gravitational radiation. We construct Newtonian equilibrium models of corotational white dwarf-neutron star (WDNS) binaries in circular orbit and find that these models terminate at the Roche limit. At this point the binary will undergo either stable mass transfer (SMT) and evolve on a secular time scale, or unstable mass transfer (UMT), which results in the tidal disruption of the WD. The path a given binary will follow depends primarily on its mass ratio. We analyze the fate of known WDNS binaries and use population synthesis results to e…
