On Carbon Burning in Super Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars

Understand

We explore the detailed and broad properties of carbon burning in Super Asymptotic Giant Branch (SAGB) stars with 2755 MESA stellar evolution models.

• The location of first carbon ignition, quenching location of the carbon burning flames and flashes, angular frequency of the carbon core, and carbon core mass are studied as a function of the ZAMS mass, initial rotation rate, and mixing parameters such as convective overshoot, semiconvection, thermohaline and angular momentum transport.
• In general terms, we find these properties of carbon burning in SAGB models are not a strong function of the initial rotation profile, but are a sensitive function of the overshoot parameter.
• We quasi-analytically derive an approximate ignition density, $\rho_{ign} \approx 2.1 \times 10^6$ g cm$^{-3}$, to predict the location of first carbon ignition in models that ignite carbon off-center.