Nucleosynthesis and hydrodynamic instabilities in core collapse supernovae

Hydrodynamic instabilities are of crucial importance for the explosion of massive stars as core collapse supernovae, for the synthesis of the heavy elements, and for their injection into the interstellar medium. The processes hereby involved are studied by means of two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations which follow all phases from shock revival to shock breakout through the photosphere of a massive star. The computed distributions of radioactive elements are compared to observational data of SN 1987 A and other supernovae. While we find good agreement of our models with observations of Type Ib supernovae, the high velocities of iron group elements observed in SN 1987 A cannot be reproduced. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. Hydrodynamic instabilities are of crucial importance for the explosion of massive stars as core collapse supernovae, for the synthesis of the heavy elements, and for their injection into the interstellar medium. The processes hereby involved are studied by means of two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations which follow all phases from shock revival to shock breakout through the photosphere of a massive star. The computed distributions of radioactive elements are compared to observational data of SN 1987 A and other supernovae. While we find good agreement of our models with observations of Type Ib supernovae, the high velocities of iron group elements observed in SN 1987 A cannot be reproduced. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed