Composition of Radiation-driven Winds from Type I X-Ray Bursts
I型X射线暴辐射驱动星风成分
Recent NICER observations of photospheric radius expansion X-ray bursts reveal absorption features consistent with photospheres enriched in intermediate-mass elements. These features may arise from radiation-driven winds that eject freshly synthesized nuclear ashes, offering a new probe of X-ray bursts and neutron star properties. Motivated by these observations, we use the MESA stellar evolution code to simulate PRE bursts from accretion through the hydrodynamic wind phase. We model a range of ignition depths for both pure helium and mixed hydrogen/helium accretion and explore several prescriptions for convection during burst rise. We find that the wind abundances depend sensitively on both ignition depth and convective treatment, including the efficiency of semiconvective mixing and the prescription used to define convective boundaries. Bursts igniting at column depths ≳5 × 10<SUP>8</SUP> g cm<SUP>−2</SUP> produce ash-enriched winds, with ejecta ranging from intermediate-mass to iron-peak elements depending on ignition depth, accretion composition, and the treatment of convection.
展开 ▾首次系统揭示PRE暴星风成分与暴内核合成及混合过程的关联,为利用星风吸收特征探测中子星性质提供理论支撑。
NICER近期观测发现PRE暴光球吸收特征表明存在富含中等质量元素的光球,暗示辐射驱动星风可能抛出新鲜核灰烬,为研究X射线暴和中子星性质开辟新窗口。本文使用MESA程序模拟了不同吸积成分和点火深度下的PRE暴,研究了星风化学成分对对流处理方式(如半对流混合和对流边界定义)的敏感性。结果显示,深层点火暴的星风成分从中等质量元素至铁峰元素不等,高度依赖于点火深度和混合机制。未来研究需进一步精细刻画对流混合与核合成过程的耦合,并结合多波段观测约束星风模型,从而借助星风成分反推暴内物理条件与中子星状态方程。
接收 2026-06-17 · 刊出 2026-07-22 · 收录 2026-07-28