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Main Authors: Griffiths, Adam, Aloy, Miguel-Ángel, Obergaulinger, Martin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22927
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author Griffiths, Adam
Aloy, Miguel-Ángel
Obergaulinger, Martin
author_facet Griffiths, Adam
Aloy, Miguel-Ángel
Obergaulinger, Martin
contents 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.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_22927
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The first 3D MHD core-collapse progenitors I: General properties, convection and nuclear burning
Griffiths, Adam
Aloy, Miguel-Ángel
Obergaulinger, Martin
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
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.
title The first 3D MHD core-collapse progenitors I: General properties, convection and nuclear burning
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22927