Thermonuclear explosion of rotating massive stars could explain core-collapse supernovae

Understand

It is widely thought that core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), the explosions of massive stars following the collapse of the stars' iron cores, is obtained due to energy deposition by neutrinos.

• So far, this scenario was not demonstrated from first principles.
• Kushnir and Katz (2014) have recently shown, by using one-dimensional simulations, that if the neutrinos failed to explode the star, a thermonuclear explosion of the outer shells is possible for some (tuned) initial profiles.
• However, the energy released was small and negligible amounts of ejected $^{56}$Ni were obtained, implying that these one-dimensional collapse induced thermonuclear explosions (CITE) are unlikely to represent typical CCSNe.