Preparing for an Explosion: Hydrodynamic Instabilities and Turbulence in Presupernovae

David Arnett; Nathan Smith

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Preparing for an Explosion: Hydrodynamic Instabilities and Turbulence in Presupernovae

Nathan Smith, David Arnett

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Submitted 18 Jul 2013

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim We suggest that the problem lies in the treatment of turbulent convection in these codes, which ignores finite amplitude fluctuations in velocity and temperature, and their nonlinear interaction with nuclear burning.

how it is stated · hedged possibility 0.74 read the record →

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arXiv ID1307.5035 (version 2)

Pith IDDXBBOXGO, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationDavid Arnett, Nathan Smith. "Preparing for an Explosion: Hydrodynamic Instabilities and Turbulence in Presupernovae." arXiv:1307.5035 (2013). https://pith.science/paper/DXBBOXGO

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The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

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Compiled by classifier-1.13-20260917 via OpenRouter, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 5,032 input tokens, $0.0002 reported.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.03 · states limitation 0.09 · human participants 0.02 · controlled comparison 0.12 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.03 · compares with prior results 0.80 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v2. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

Both observations and direct numerical simulations are discordant with predictions of conventional stellar evolution codes for the latest stages of a massive star's life prior to core collapse. We suggest that the problem lies in the treatment of turbulent convection in these codes, which ignores finite amplitude fluctuations in velocity and temperature, and their nonlinear interaction with nuclear burning. The hydrodynamic instabilities that may arise prompt us to discuss a number of far-reaching implications for the fates of massive stars. In particular, we explore connections to enhanced presupernova mass loss, unsteady nuclear burning and consequent eruptions, swelling of the stellar radius that may trigger violent interactions with a companion star, and potential modifications to the core structure that could dramatically impact calculations of the core-collapse mechanism itself. These modifications may be of fundamental importance to the interpretation of measured isotopic anomalies in meteorites, changing the predictions of both mixing and detailed nucleosynthesis, and of young core-collapse supernova remnants. They may also make possible the development of an early warning system for the detection of impending core collapse.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	Both observations and direct numerical simulations are discordant with predictions of conventional stellar evolution codes for the latest stages of a massive star's life prior to core collapse.	background 0.85	0.09	0.07	asserted 1.00
s1	We suggest that the problem lies in the treatment of turbulent convection in these codes, which ignores finite amplitude fluctuations in velocity and temperature, and their nonlinear interaction with nuclear burning.	gap 0.62	0.18	0.58	hedged possibility 0.74
s2	The hydrodynamic instabilities that may arise prompt us to discuss a number of far-reaching implications for the fates of massive stars.	contribution 0.63	0.23	0.11	hedged possibility 0.83
s3	In particular, we explore connections to enhanced presupernova mass loss, unsteady nuclear burning and consequent eruptions, swelling of the stellar radius that may trigger violent interactions with a companion star, and potential modifications to the core structure that could dramatically impact calculations of the core-collapse mechanism itself.	contribution 0.78	0.71	0.13	hedged possibility 0.89
s4	These modifications may be of fundamental importance to the interpretation of measured isotopic anomalies in meteorites, changing the predictions of both mixing and detailed nucleosynthesis, and of young core-collapse supernova remnants.	interpretation 0.99	0.16	0.10	hedged possibility 1.00
s5	They may also make possible the development of an early warning system for the detection of impending core collapse.	interpretation 0.86	0.09	0.09	hedged possibility 1.00

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: position or commentary 0.99 · evidence from argument 0.87.

What was examined, and what was not

sources read

arXiv listing abstract v2

not examined

full text
figures and tables
references and citing sentences
relations to other papers

levels run

P abstract

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S sections
T body sentences
C citations
R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper

Original abstract

Both observations and direct numerical simulations are discordant with predictions of conventional stellar evolution codes for the latest stages of a massive star's life prior to core collapse. We suggest that the problem lies in the treatment of turbulent convection in these codes, which ignores finite amplitude fluctuations in velocity and temperature, and their nonlinear interaction with nuclear burning. The hydrodynamic instabilities that may arise prompt us to discuss a number of far-reaching implications for the fates of massive stars. In particular, we explore connections to enhanced presupernova mass loss, unsteady nuclear burning and consequent eruptions, swelling of the stellar radius that may trigger violent interactions with a companion star, and potential modifications to the core structure that could dramatically impact calculations of the core-collapse mechanism itself. These modifications may be of fundamental importance to the interpretation of measured isotopic anomalies in meteorites, changing the predictions of both mixing and detailed nucleosynthesis, and of young core-collapse supernova remnants. They may also make possible the development of an early warning system for the detection of impending core collapse.

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References

Forward citations

Cited by 6 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

From mass-loss histories to lightcurves: a generalised framework for interaction-powered transients
astro-ph.HE 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 7.0 of 10

Introduces a generalized fast framework for modeling interaction-powered transients with arbitrary CSM profiles and multi-wavelength outputs.
Beyond Mergers: the Role of Metallicity in Forming a Reservoir of Massive and Detached Binary Black Hole Systems
astro-ph.SR 2026-10 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

At moderate metallicities, massive black holes in binaries are predominantly left in wide detached orbits rather than merging, creating a reservoir for dynamical hardening.
Neutron star-companion interaction in core collapse supernovae. Population synthesis based on detailed binary evolution models
astro-ph.SR 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

Population synthesis from binary evolution models predicts periodic neutron star-companion interactions in more than half of surviving hydrogen-poor core-collapse supernovae, with periods peaking at 20-50 days and las...
The Mass Function of Neutron Stars from Core-Collapse Supernova Simulations
astro-ph.HE 2026-08 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

Using a compactness-to-mass mapping from 3D supernova simulations, the authors construct a theoretical neutron star birth mass function that, after fitting black-hole and kick fractions, resembles the observed mass di...
Effects of Rotation on 3D Core-Collapse Supernova Models for Low-Mass Progenitors
astro-ph.HE 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

For a low-mass CCSN progenitor, rotation alone weakly and non-monotonically affects explosion energy and observables; only the fastest spin yields T/|W| spiral modes and spin-kick alignment, with core spin amplified by ~4000.

Show 1 more citing papers

Mass Loss: Its Effect on the Evolution and Fate of High-Mass Stars
astro-ph.SR 2014-02 accept novelty 3.0 of 10

The review concludes that binary mass transfer and episodic mass loss, not steady line-driven winds, dominate the removal of hydrogen envelopes from massive stars.

How later papers used it

91 later papers cite it

Evidence: some. 66 of the citing papers share no author with it, and 3 of those carry a confident label from Pith's citation classifier.

Pith read 15 of the 130 citing sentences, choosing only those whose citation markers point at this paper alone, and wrote the paraphrases from them. The summary, the counts, the evidence level, the links and the quotes come from code; the summary counts the papers listed below. A later paper is listed under a label when Pith's citation classifier gives one of its sentences that label at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), Pith's reading finds that the citing paper itself did it, and a second check confirms the paraphrase against the sentence. This section lists uses only. It does not list criticism or disagreement, so their absence here says nothing about how the paper has been received. Papers that share an author with this one are listed apart, under "By the same authors". A quote is the citing authors' own sentence, shown when their paper's licence is CC BY, CC BY-SA or CC0. JSON

3 papers by the same authors are listed below: 3 cited it as support.

Cites it as support 3 of 7 papers with this label · 3 by the same authors

By the same authors

Said that a pre-supernova merger event as in this paper seemed like the most favourable explanation for providing the pre-supernova mass loss of SN 2015da.

SN~2015da: Late-time observations of a persistent superluminous Type~IIn supernova with post-shock dust formation (2023) (same authors) · 0.96 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
Said that of the pre-supernova ejection mechanisms related to late-phase nuclear burning, only pre-supernova binary interaction triggered by envelope inflation as in this paper is necessarily expected to produce strong asymmetry in the CSM.

High resolution spectroscopy of SN~2023ixf's first week: Engulfing the Asymmetric Circumstellar Material (2023) (same authors) · 0.97 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
Considered binary-driven mass loss as perhaps the only mechanism that can explain the quantity and duration of mass loss derived across all wavelengths, citing this paper.

A Multiwavelength Autopsy of the Interacting IIn Supernova 2020ywx: Tracing its Progenitor Mass-Loss History for 100 Years before Death (2024) (same authors) · 0.98 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

How the literature uses it

5 arXiv papers cite this in 10 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 9 sentences without a confident label

Cites it as background 1 paper

In the interim leading to large neutrino telescope operations, novel observational programs will hopefully break new empirical ground (e.g., [ref] ), while computational advances should allow for multi-dimensional simulations of SN progenitors that include the frenetic last few years of evolution [ref] , during which changes in the envelope can be rapid and significant (e.g., [ref] ).

Tomography of Massive Stars from Core Collapse to Supernova Shock Breakout · Discussion & Conclusions · 0.94

What it cites · 10 sentences without a confident label

Cites as background 2 papers

The precise reaction rates remain elusive; see, e.g., [ref] .

Energy Deconvolution of Cross Section Measurements with an Application to the 12C(\alpha,\gamma)16O Reaction · Conclusions · 0.87
The precise reaction rates remain elusive; see, e.g., [ref] .

Ambiguities of the Rate of Oxygen Formation During Stellar Helium Burning in the 12C(a,g) Reaction · Conclusions · 0.87

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