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SBW1 is a B-type supergiant surrounded by a ring nebula that is a nearby twin of SN 1987A's progenitor and its circumstellar ring. We present images and spectra of SBW1 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Spitzer Space Telescope and Gemini South. HST images of SBW1 do not exhibit long Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) fingers, which are presumed to cause the ‘hotspots’ in the SN 1987A ring when impacted by the blast wave, but instead show a geometrically thin (ΔR/R ≲ 0.05) clumpy ring. The radial mass distribution and size scales of inhomogeneities in SBW1’s ring closely resemble those in the SN 1987A ring, but the more complete disc expected to reside at the base of the RT fingers is absent in SBW1. This structure may explain why portions of the SN 1987A ring between the hotspots have not yet brightened, more than 15 years after the first hotspots appeared. The model we suggest does not require a fast wind colliding with a previous red supergiant wind, because a slowly expanding equatorial ring may be ejected by a rotating blue supergiant star or in a close binary system. More surprisingly, high-resolution images of SBW1 also reveal diffuse emission filling the interior of the ring seen in Hα and in thermal-infrared (IR) emission; ∼190 K dust dominates the 8–20 μm luminosity (but contains only 10−5 M⊙ of dust). Cooler (∼85 K) dust resides in the equatorial ring itself (and has a dust mass of at least 5 × 10−3 M⊙). Diffuse emission extends inward to ∼1 arcsec from the central star, where a paucity of Hα and IR emission suggests an inner hole excavated by the B-supergiant wind. We propose that diffuse emission inside the ring arises from an ionized flow of material photoevaporated from the dense ring, and its pressure prevents the B-supergiant wind from advancing in the equatorial plane. This inner emission could correspond to a structure hypothesized to reside around Sk−69°202 that was never directly detected. If this interpretation is correct, it would suggest that photoionization can play an important dynamical role in shaping the ring nebula, and we speculate that this might help explain the origin of the polar rings around SN 1987A. In effect, the photoevaporative flow shields the outer bipolar nebula at low latitudes, whereas the blue supergiant wind expands freely out the poles and clears away the polar caps of the nebula; the polar rings reside at the intersection of these two zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy and photometry of four Type Ia supernovae (SNe 2004dt, 2004ef, 2005M, and 2005cf) obtained with the UV prism of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. This data set provides unique spectral time series down to 2000Å. Significant diversity is seen in the near-maximum-light spectra (~2000-3500Å) for this small sample. The corresponding photometric data, together with archival data from Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope observations, provide further evidence of increased dispersion in the UV emission with respect to the optical. The peak luminosities measured in the uvw1/F250W filter are found to correlate with the B-band light-curve shape parameter Δm15(B), but with much larger scatter relative to the correlation in the broadband B band (e.g., ~0.4 mag versus ~0.2 mag for those with 0.8 mag <Δm 15(B) < 1.7 mag). SN 2004dt is found as an outlier of this correlation (at>3σs), being brighter than normal SNe Ia such as SN 2005cf by ~0.9m a g and ~2.0 mag in the uvw1/F250W and uvm2/F220W filters, respectively. We show that different progenitor metallicity or line-expansion velocities alone cannot explain such a large discrepancy. Viewing-angle effects, such as due to an asymmetric explosion, may have a significant influence on the flux emitted in the UV region. Detailed modeling is needed to disentangle and quantify the above effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic simulations of shell oxygen burning exhibit bursty, recurrent fluctuations in turbulent kinetic energy. These are shown to be due to a general instability of the convective cell, requiring only a localized source of heating or cooling. Such fluctuations are shown to be suppressed in simulations of stellar evolution which use the mixing-length theory. Quantitatively similar behavior occurs in the model of a convective roll (cell) of Lorenz, which is known to have a strange attractor that gives rise to chaotic fluctuations in time of velocity and, as we show, luminosity. Study of simulations suggests that the behavior of a Lorenz convective roll may resemble that of a cell in convective flow. We examine some implications of this simplest approximation and suggest paths for improvement. Using the Lorenz model as representative of a convective cell, a multiple-cell model of a convective layer gives total luminosity fluctuations which are suggestive of irregular variables (red giants and supergiants), and of the long secondary period feature in semiregular asymptotic giant branch variables. This "τ-mechanism" is a new source for stellar variability, which is inherently nonlinear (unseen in linear stability analysis), and one closely related to intermittency in turbulence. It was already implicit in the 3D global simulations of Woodward et al. This fluctuating behavior is seen in extended two-dimensional simulations of CNeOSi burning shells, and may cause instability which leads to eruptions in progenitors of core-collapse supernovae prior to collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional (1D) stellar evolution models are widely used across various astrophysical fields, however they are still dominated by important uncertainties that deeply affect their predictive power. Among those, the merging of independent convective regions is a poorly understood phenomenon predicted by some 1D models but whose occurrence and impact in real stars remain very uncertain. Being an intrinsically multi-D phenomenon, it is challenging to predict the exact behaviour of shell mergers with 1D models. In this work, we conduct a detailed investigation of a multiple shell merging event in a 20 M |$_\odot$| star using 3D hydrodynamic simulations. Making use of the active tracers for composition and the nuclear network included in the 3D model, we study the merging not only from a dynamical standpoint but also considering its nucleosynthesis and energy generation. Our simulations confirm the occurrence of the merging also in 3D, but reveal significant differences from the 1D case. Specifically, we identify entrainment and the erosion of stable regions as the main mechanisms that drive the merging, we predict much faster convective velocities compared to the mixing-length theory velocities, and observe multiple burning phases within the same merged shell, with important effects for the chemical composition of the star, which presents a strongly asymmetric (dipolar) distribution. We expect that these differences will have important effects on the final structure of massive stars and thus their final collapse dynamics and possible supernova explosion, subsequently affecting the resulting nucleosynthesis and remnant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment of convection remains a major weakness in the modelling of stellar evolution with one-dimensional (1D) codes. The ever-increasing computing power makes now possible to simulate in three-dimensional (3D) part of a star for a fraction of its life, allowing us to study the full complexity of convective zones with hydrodynamics codes. Here, we performed state-of-the-art hydrodynamics simulations of turbulence in a neon-burning convective zone, during the late stage of the life of a massive star. We produced a set of simulations varying the resolution of the computing domain (from 1283 to 10243 cells) and the efficiency of the nuclear reactions (by boosting the energy generation rate from nominal to a factor of 1000). We analysed our results by the mean of Fourier transform of the velocity field, and mean-field decomposition of the various transport equations. Our results are in line with previous studies, showing that the behaviour of the bulk of the convective zone is already well captured at a relatively low resolution (2563), while the details of the convective boundaries require higher resolutions. The different boosting factors used show how various quantities (velocity, buoyancy, abundances, and abundance variances) depend on the energy generation rate. We found that for low boosting factors, convective zones are well mixed, validating the approach usually used in 1D stellar evolution codes. However, when nuclear burning and turbulent transport occur on the same time-scale, a more sophisticated treatment would be needed. This is typically the case when shell mergers occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our knowledge of massive star evolution is limited by uncertainties linked with multi-dimensional processes taking place in stellar interiors. Important examples are convective boundary mixing (CBM) and entrainment, which are implemented in 1D stellar evolution models assuming simplified prescriptions. 3D hydrodynamics models can improve these prescriptions by studying realistic multi-D processes for a short timerange (minutes or hours). In these proceedings, we present results coming from a new set of high-resolution hydrodynamics simulations of a neon-burning shell in a massive star, and discuss how the entrainment law can be calibrated from 3D models and then used to improve 1D stellar evolution prescriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]