Sanjana Curtis

Prof. Sanjana Curtis is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Oregon State University.

Talk title: “Explosive nucleosynthesis from core-collapse supernovae and the role of binary evolution”

Abstract: Core-collapse supernovae are among the most important sites of element production in the universe. Predicting their nucleosynthesis yields is thus important for understanding the compositions of metal-poor stars and for tracing the chemical evolution of galaxies. However, self-consistently simulating the explosion of a massive star and computing resulting abundances is a formidable challenge, one that requires careful computational modeling. Additionally, while almost all traditional core-collapse nucleosynthesis studies are based on single star progenitors, most massive stars are thought to exist in binaries. In this talk, I will present nucleosynthesis yields for a large suite of single-star supernova models spanning a range of masses and metallicities, exploded in spherical symmetry using the PUSH method. I will also present preliminary results from explosion simulations employing a set of stellar evolution models that includes both single and binary progenitors, and discuss how binarity impacts the landscape of core-collapse supernova outcomes and yields.