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arXiv · 2605.22927

The first 3D MHD core-collapse progenitors I: General properties, convection and nuclear burning

Adam Griffiths·Miguel-Ángel Aloy·Martin Obergaulinger
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Abstract

The most energetic core-collapse supernovae are thought to arise from rapidly rotating, magnetised progenitors, yet the three-dimensional structure of their pre-collapse interior remains poorly constrained, and realistic distributions of magnetic fields, angular momentum, and convective asphericities are still lacking. We construct physically consistent three-dimensional pre-supernova progenitors including rotation and magnetic fields. In this first paper, we focus on the behaviour of turbulence and nuclear burning in the shells surrounding the stellar core, and assess their deviations from one-dimensional stellar-evolution models. We used Aenus-ALCAR to perform three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of two compact Wolf--Rayet progenitors obtained from the stellar evolution codes GENEC and MESA. The models were mapped into the multidimensional domain several minutes before collapse and evolved until the onset of core collapse. We find that in extended oxygen-burning shells, turbulent velocities exceed the standard mixing-length-theory (MLT) predictions by approximately a factor of two. In contrast, a thin silicon-burning shell is poorly described by MLT: mixing is reduced near both shell boundaries, and the inferred effective diffusion profile departs significantly from the standard one-dimensional prescription. These differences directly affect the spatial extent and efficiency of nuclear burning. We present the first 3D MHD pre-supernova progenitors of this kind, suitable for subsequent collapse and explosion calculations, and show that multidimensional effects can significantly modify turbulent mixing and shell burning during the final stages of massive-star evolution. We propose prescriptions to account for these effects in the advanced phases of stellar evolution.

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Adam Griffiths, Miguel-Ángel Aloy, Martin Obergaulinger. 2026-05-21. The first 3D MHD core-collapse progenitors I: General properties, convection and nuclear burning. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22927

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