Sensitivity of 44Ti and 56Ni production in CCSN shock-driven nucleosynthesis to reaction rates
Abstract
Recent observational advances have enabled high resolution mapping of 44Ti in core-collapse supernova (CCSN) remnants. Comparisons between observations and models provide stringent constraints on the CCSN mechanism. However, past work has identified several uncertain nuclear reaction rates that influence 44Ti and 56Ni production in post-processing model calculations. We evolved one dimensional models of 15~M, 18~M, 22~M and 25~M stars from zero-age main sequence through CCSN using MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) and investigated the previously identified reaction rate sensitivities of 44Ti and 56Ni production. We tested the robustness of our results by making various assumptions about the CCSN explosion energy and mass-cut. We found a number of reactions that have a significant impact on the nucleosynthesis of 44Ti and 56Ni, particularly for lower progenitor masses. Notably, the reaction rates 13 N(α,p)16 O, 17 F(α,p)20 Ne, 52 Fe(α,p)55 Co, 56 Ni(α,p)59 Cu, 57 Ni(n,p)57 Co, 56 Co(p,n)56 Ni, 39 K(p,γ)40 Ca, 47 V(p,γ)48 Cr, 52 Mn(p,γ)53 Fe, 57 Co(p,γ)58 Ni, and 39 K(p,α)36 Ar are influential for a large number of model conditions. Furthermore, we found the list of influential reactions identified by previous post-processing studies of CCSN shock-driven nucleosynthesis is likely incomplete, motivating future larger-scale sensitivity studies.