Prog. Theor. Phys. Vol. 126 No. 6 (2011) pp. 1177-1186

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Letters

Effects of a New Triple-α Reaction on X-Ray Bursts of a Helium-Accreting Neutron Star

Yasuhide Matsuo,^1,^* Hideyuki Tsujimoto,¹ Tsuneo Noda,¹ Motoaki Saruwatari,¹ Masaomi Ono,¹ Masa-aki Hashimoto^1,^** and Masayuki Y. Fujimoto²

¹Department of Physics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
²Department of Physics, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

(Received May 28, 2011; Revised October 13, 2011)

Abstract:

The effects of a new triple-α reaction (OKK) rate on a helium flash of a helium-accreting neutron star in a binary system have been investigated. Since ignition points determine the properties of a thermonuclear flash of type I X-ray bursts, we examine the cases of different accretion rates, dM/dt (\dotM), of helium from 3 ×10^-10 M_⊙ yr^-1 to 3 ×10^-8 M_⊙ yr^-1, which could cover the observed accretion rates. We find that, at low accretion rates, nuclear burning occurs at the helium layers of rather low densities. As a consequence, helium deflagration would be triggered at accretion rate lower than \dotM ≃3 ×10^-8 M_⊙ yr^-1. We find that the OKK rate is consistent with the available observations of X-ray bursts on a helium-accreting neutron star. We advocate that the OKK rate is better than the previous rate for the astrophysical phenomena of X-ray burst due to helium accretion.

Subject Index : 423, 425, 481
URL : http://ptp.ipap.jp/link?PTP/126/1177/
DOI : 10.1143/PTP.126.1177

^*E-mail: matsuo@phys.kyushu-u.ac.jp
^**E-mail: hashimoto@phys.kyushu-u.ac.jp

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Citing Article(s) :

Progress of Theoretical Physics Vol. 127 No. 1 (2012) pp. 171-178 :
Effects of a New Triple-α Reaction on the s-Process in Massive Stars

Yukihiro Kikuchi, Masaomi Ono, Yasuhide Matsuo, Masa-aki Hashimoto and Shin-ichiro Fujimoto