Signatures of 56Ni Mixing and Neutron-rich Ejecta in Supernovae

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ID: 328120
2026
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Abstract
Abstract Supernova lightcurves are often interpreted with one-zone radioactive-decay models that ignore a key variable that can affect interpretation and inferred parameters: the distribution of radioactive material. Using a multi-shell model, we explore the impact of 56Ni mixing in supernovae and r-process material in collapsars. Moving 56Ni outward reduces the overlying diffusion column, producing faster and brighter rises at fixed MNi, Mej, and Ek, and changes the tail through local gamma-ray leakage. A fast, bright rise is not, by itself, evidence for low ejecta mass or a requirement for engine power, with significant overlap between highly mixed and engine-powered lightcurves. One-zone fits to mixed bolometric light curves produce visually good fits but biased parameters. At fixed opacity, outward mixing is absorbed mainly by low inferred Mej and high inferred fNi, while MNi remains stable. If opacity is free, the fully mixed case is recovered with κfit/κinput ≃ 0.24. These shifts affect inferred explosion energies and progenitor mappings, and amplified in photometric fits. Exploring collapsar r-process enrichment, we find that the signature is not always a NIR excess and depends sensitively on the nickel-powered background, radial placement, angular distribution, and viewing angle of neutron-rich ejecta. In our setup, spherical models often show optical suppression and delayed colour evolution. Our disk-wind models suggest that fast-rising on-axis GRB-SNe are poor r-process targets for equatorially confined neutron-rich winds, and become constraining only if the r-process material reaches latitudes ≳ 30○ from the equatorial plane.
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Authors Nikhil Sarin
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Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag1722
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1722
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