FaInt Supernovae and Hypernovae: Mechanism and Nucleosynthesis

Objective

Massive stars of 8-140M⊙ undergo core-collapse at the end of their evolution, leading to a central neutron star or possibly a black hole. Stars in the mass range of 140-260M⊙ have been expected to experience thermonuclear explosions, known in the literature as pair instability supernovae (PISNe). More massive objects will form black holes during their final collapse. If these events lead to ejecta, they will have experienced explosive burning, possibly under the strong influence of interactions with neutrinos. The impact of the most massive objects will enter at the earliest stages of the evolution of galaxies, influencing the abundance pattern visible in the spectra of extremely low metallicity stars, both topics of extremely active research. Apparently one does not observe the abundance yields expected from PISNe, indicating that probably all very massive stars underwent strong mass loss during their evolution and undergo final core collapse. It is still an open issue, whether and how this collapse leads to neutron star formation or black holes (possibly also occurring subsequently), forming as a function of progenitor mass supernova events (SNe), faint supernovae with fallback from the innermost ejected zones (faint SNe), or hypernovae/collapsars/gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in conjunction with rotation, magnetic fields and highly energetic explosions. The focus of the present proposal is this transition region in stellar progenitor mass and its nucleosynthesis contributions to galactic evolution, linking diverse research fields like nuclear physics far from stability, the equation of state of dense objects, 3D magnetohydrodynamics with neutrino transport, and computational methods. The outcome is of extreme importance in understanding the nucleosynthesis impact of the first stars, the chemical evolution of galaxies and the origin of all elements, including those processes with still highly uncertain origins/sites like the r-process, the nu/p-process or the p-process.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• natural sciences physical sciences astronomy stellar astronomy neutron stars
• natural sciences physical sciences astronomy astrophysics black holes

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• ERC-AG-PE9 - ERC Advanced Grant - Universe sciences

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

Beneficiaries (1)