A. Hayashi et al., ON THE POSSIBILITY OF THE NONEXPLOSIVE CORE CONTRACTION OF MASSIVE STARS - NEW EVOLUTIONARY PATHS FROM ROTATING WHITE-DWARFS TO ROTATING NEUTRON-STARS, The Astrophysical journal, 492(1), 1998, pp. 286-297
We have found that a new and nonexplosive evolutionary path from stars
in the white dwarf region to stars in the neutron star region may be
possible. Such a process can be realized if we incorporate both a larg
e amount of rotation and the temperature effect on the equation of sta
te. The large value of angular momentum is required to make stars secu
larly unstable because of gravitational radiation emission. For high t
emperature matter, the contribution of the temperature and the electro
n fraction to the pressure becomes large enough to make rotating stars
dynamically stable against axisymmetric perturbations. Thus; equilibr
ium states may exist for rotating compact stars that are dynamically s
table against axisymmetric collapse but secularly unstable. The evolut
ion of dynamically stable and secularly unstable rotating stars can pr
oceed as follows. The secular instability is caused by the emission of
gravitational waves that carry away the angular momentum of the star.
Stars with less angular momentum will contract to higher density stat
es. This process occurs rather slowly, i.e., not on a dynamical timesc
ale but on a secular timescale of gravitational radiation emission. Co
nsequently, compact configurations such as white dwarfs in this catego
ry may undergo nonexplosive and slow contraction. This contraction lea
ds some configurations to neutron stars and others to black holes, dep
ending on the mass and the angular momentum. If the final outcomes are
neutron stars, they are both dynamically and secularly stable because
some of the angular momentum is lost. Therefore, we have succeeded in
showing that ''fizzlers'' can exist, although Newtonian gravity is us
ed. This evolution is likely to occur within the central region of mas
sive stars. Since the central region of a massive star is hot, high-te
mperature effects become important. Concerning high angular-momentum,
massive stars in the main sequence stage usually rotate rather rapidly
. It implies that the angular momentum of the core can also be large e
nough to lead to secular instability. Thus, cores of massive stars may
contract on a long timescale without being accompanied by supernova e
xplosions.