Distillation of 56Fe in Ultramassive O–Ne White Dwarfs

Abstract

When white dwarfs freeze, the plasma mixtures inside them undergo separation processes that can produce radical changes in the composition profile of the star. The abundance of neutron-rich elements, such as ^22 Ne or ^56 Fe, determines whether or not the first crystals are more or less dense than the surrounding fluid and thus whether they sink or float. These processes have now been studied for C–O–Ne and C–O–Fe mixtures, finding that distillation and precipitation processes are possible in white dwarfs. In this work, we calculate the phase diagram of more complicated O–Ne–Fe mixtures and make predictions for the internal structure of the separated white dwarf. There are two possible outcomes determined by a complicated interplay between the Ne abundance, the ^22 Ne fraction, and the ^56 Fe abundance. Either Fe distills to form an inner core because the first O–Ne solids are buoyant, or an O–Ne inner core forms and Fe accumulates in the liquid until Fe distillation begins and forms an Fe shell. In the case of an Fe shell, a Rayleigh–Taylor instability may arise and overturn the core. In either case, Fe distillation may only produce a cooling delay of order 0.1 Gyr, as these processes occur early at high white dwarf luminosities. Fe inner cores and shells may be detectable through asteroseismology and could enhance the yield of neutron-rich elements such as ^55 Mn and ^58 Ni in supernovae.

Keywords

• White dwarf stars
• Stellar evolution
• Stellar interiors
• Plasma physics
• Computational methods