Related papers: Tracing the ejecta from cosmic nucleosynthesis
Kuiper-like belts of planetesimals orbiting stars other than the Sun are most commonly detected from the thermal emission of small dust produced in collisions. Emission from gas, most notably CO, highlights the cometary nature of these…
Recent improvements in stellar models for intermediate-mass and massive stars are recalled, together with their expectations for the synthesis of radioactive nuclei of lifetime $\tau \lesssim 25$ Myr, in order to re-examine the origins of…
Stars form with gaseous and dusty circumstellar envelopes, which rapidly settle into disks that eventually give rise to planetary systems. Understanding the process by which these disks evolve is paramount in developing an accurate theory…
Galaxy mergers lead to the formation of massive black hole binaries which can accelerate background stars close to the speed of light. We estimate the comoving density of ejected stars with a peculiar velocity in excess of $0.1c$ or $0.5c$…
Nuclear physics offers us a powerful tool: using nuclear resonance absorption lines to infer the physical conditions in astrophysical settings which are otherwise difficult to deduce. Present-day technology provides an increase in…
The observation of a radioactively powered kilonova AT~2017gfo associated with the gravitational wave-event GW170817 from binary neutron star merger proves that these events are ideal sites for the production of heavy $r$-process elements.…
The fastest ejecta of supernova explosions propagate as a precursor to the main supernova shock wave, and can be quite energetic. The spectrum of such fast ejecta is estimated based on recent analytic and numerical supernova models, and…
We take a fresh look at high energy radioactive nuclei data reported in the 90's and at the positron data recently reported by PAMELA. Our aim is to study the model independent implications of these data for the propagation time scales of…
When a star undergoes core collapse, a vast amount of energy is released in a ~10 s long burst of neutrinos of all species. Inverse beta decay in the star's hydrogen envelope causes an electromagnetic cascade which ultimately results in a…
Surveys of redshifted emission lines in the near-infrared will provide unique information on the cosmic star formation history. Near-infrared Halpha surveys will probe the cosmic star formation density and the evolution of the luminosity…
Recent observations of high ionization rates of molecular hydrogen in diffuse interstellar clouds point to a distinct low-energy cosmic-ray component. Supposing that this component is made of nuclei, two models for the origin of such…
Gamma-ray line emission from the radioactive decay of 26Al reflects nucleosynthesis in massive stars and supernovae. We use INTEGRAL 26Al measurements to characterize the distribution and characteristics of 26Al source regions throughout…
To reproduce observed galaxy properties, cosmological simulations require that massive galaxies experience feedback from active galactic nuclei, which regulates star formation within those galaxies. However, the energetics and timescales of…
The deaths of massive stars are sometimes accompanied by the launch of highly relativistic and collimated jets. If the jet is pointed towards Earth, we observe a "prompt" gamma-ray burst due to internal shocks or magnetic reconnection…
We performed a series of hydrodynamical calculations of an ultra-relativistic jet propagating through a massive star and the circumstellar matter to investigate the interaction between the ejecta and the circumstellar matter. We succeed in…
The ejected material at the binary neutron star merger GW 170817 was confirmed as a kilonova by UV, optical, and IR observations. This event provides a unique opportunity to investigate the particle acceleration at a mildly relativistic…
Interactions between cosmic ray protons and the photons of the cosmic microwave background radiation, as well as the expansion of the universe, cause cosmic rays to lose energy in a way that depends on the distance from the cosmic nray…
The progenitors of Type Ia and some core collapse supernovae are thought to be stars in binary systems, but little observational evidence exists to confirm the hypothesis. We suggest that the collision of the supernova ejecta with its…
The gravitational waves generated in the coalescence of massive binary black holes will be measurable by LISA to enormous distances. Redshifts z~10 or larger (depending somewhat on the mass of the binary) can potentially be probed by such…
The ejection of neutron-rich matter is one of the most important consequences of a neutron star merger. While the bulk of the matter is ejected at fast, but non-relativistic velocities ($\sim0.2c$), a small amount of mildly relativistic…