Abstract:

Core-collapse supernovae mark the explosive deaths of massive stars and play an important role in shaping the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies. Observations of supernovae and their remnants show that these explosions are far from spherical, with strongly mixed ejecta, large-scale asymmetries, and clumpy metal-rich structures. While these features are seeded during the explosion itself, their later evolution determines what we eventually observe.

In this talk, I will present multidimensional simulations that follow the ejecta of a low-mass iron-core supernova from shortly after a neutrino-driven explosion through its subsequent expansion into the surrounding stellar environment. We study how hydrodynamic instabilities, neutron-star winds, radioactive decay heating, and interaction with the circumstellar medium reshape the ejecta over time. In this low-energy explosion, radioactive decay heating can have an important dynamical effect, inflating metal-rich regions and modifying the density and morphology of the inner ejecta. At the same time, later hydrodynamic evolution and interaction with the surrounding medium can reshape the ejecta without completely erasing the large-scale asymmetries established during the explosion.

I will also discuss how the inferred morphology and velocity distribution depend on viewing direction, and how these simulations can help connect the physics of the explosion to observable signatures in young supernovae and remnants.