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Instabilities in Very Young Neutron Stars: Electron Fraction
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This simulation shows the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star which is formed in a Type II supernova. After an initial collapse phase, the neutron star becomes unstable to convection. The resulting convective motions destroy the spherical symmetry of the star and rapidly mix the inner regions. In addition, the neutrino flux from the neutron star will be non-spherical and will be significantly enhanced by the convective motions. This may have major implications for the Type II supernova mechanism. The calculation was performed using the Piecewise-Parabolic Method for hydrodynamics. The computational grid contained 300 zones in radius and 200 zones in angle. The inner 200 zones in radius were uniformly spaced, ranging from the inner boundary at 25 km to 175 km. The outer 100 zones were non-uniformly spaced and stretched to 2000 km. Only the inner 200 zones are plotted. The inner boundary was treated as a hard sphere. At the outer boundary, zero gradients for all the variables were assumed. Periodic boundary conditions were used along the sides of the grid. The following sequence shows the mixing of composition which results from the convective motions. The variable plotted is the electron fraction Ye, which ranges from 0.2 to 0.5.
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Evolution of the electron fraction during the first 20 milliseconds in the life of a neutron star formed from a Type II supernova
Duration: 11.0 seconds
Available formats:
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| Animation Number: | 1383 |
| Animators: | Bruce Fryxell (Lead) |
| | Pamela ONeil |
| Studio: | SVS |
| Completed: | 1994-02-12 |
| Scientists: | Bruce Fryxell (NASA/GSFC) |
| | Adam Burrows (University of Arizona) |
| Series: | Young Neutron Star Instabilities |
| Video: | SVS1994-0006 * |
Keywords:
SVS
>> Density
SVS
>> Neutron Star
DLESE
>> Space science
SVS
>> Supernovae
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| Science paper: | Burrows, A., and Fryxell, B., 1993, ApJ, 418, L33 |
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Please give credit for this item to
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio |
*Please note: the SVS does not fulfill requests for copies of the tapes in our library. On some of our animation pages, there is a direct link to a video distribution service from which tapes, handled by the Public Affairs Office (PAO)/Goddard TV, including some of our animations may be ordered. General information on this service can be found here. |
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