Ken Shen
@kenshen.bsky.social
Astrophysicist at UC Berkeley. I try to make stars blow up.
7/ Check out our paper on what these two-star explosions would look like, led by an amazing grad student earlier this year. They reproduce observations well, and I expect them to match even better as we input more physics into the calculations.
arxiv.org/abs/2401.08011
arxiv.org/abs/2401.08011
June 6, 2024 at 6:08 PM
7/ Check out our paper on what these two-star explosions would look like, led by an amazing grad student earlier this year. They reproduce observations well, and I expect them to match even better as we input more physics into the calculations.
arxiv.org/abs/2401.08011
arxiv.org/abs/2401.08011
3/ Theory has shown this is possible as long as there is enough helium on the white dwarf's surface. The explosion starts in the helium layer and then triggers another explosion in the carbon-rich core, which is why these are called "double detonations."
June 6, 2024 at 6:07 PM
3/ Theory has shown this is possible as long as there is enough helium on the white dwarf's surface. The explosion starts in the helium layer and then triggers another explosion in the carbon-rich core, which is why these are called "double detonations."
2/ We still don't know for sure what causes Type Ia supernovae. But there's growing evidence they come from white dwarfs roughly the mass of the Sun ("sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs") that explode as they start to merge with other white dwarfs.
June 6, 2024 at 6:06 PM
2/ We still don't know for sure what causes Type Ia supernovae. But there's growing evidence they come from white dwarfs roughly the mass of the Sun ("sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs") that explode as they start to merge with other white dwarfs.
3/ This energy release halts the cooling for a little bit. We can see this pause as a buildup of white dwarfs along their cooling sequence, helpfully outlined in orange in this paper by Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay.
August 10, 2023 at 4:59 PM
3/ This energy release halts the cooling for a little bit. We can see this pause as a buildup of white dwarfs along their cooling sequence, helpfully outlined in orange in this paper by Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay.
10/10 And one last thing: Kareem decided to submit to a free, open-access journal, leading to the attached arXiv submission comments. Perhaps a sign of interesting things to come....?
June 8, 2023 at 3:27 PM
10/10 And one last thing: Kareem decided to submit to a free, open-access journal, leading to the attached arXiv submission comments. Perhaps a sign of interesting things to come....?