Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter StellarEndpoints   (MW-2235)

The Final Pulses of Massive Stars: Multidimensional Simulations of Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae

Ke-Jung Chen, Stan Woosley
ASIAA/HITS

Very massive stars near the end of their lives can experience violent pulsations triggered by electron–positron pair production in their cores. These pulsational pair-instability supernovae (PPISNe) eject massive shells of material in repeated outbursts before the star’s final collapse. Using multidimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, we investigate how these pulses interact, mix, and radiate in ways far more complex than predicted by one-dimensional models. Our results reveal strong asymmetries, instabilities, and shock interactions that shape the observed light curves and spectra. These multidimensional effects help explain the diversity of observed transient events thought to arise from PPISNe, bridging the gap between theory and observation of massive stellar death.