Explosive nucleosynthesis in hypernovae

We examine the characteristics of nucleosynthesis in "hypernovae," i.e., su pernovae with very large explosion energies (greater than or similar to 10( 52) ergs). We carry out detailed nucleosynthesis calculations for these ene rgetic explosions and compare the yields with those of ordinary core-collap se supernovae. We find that both complete and incomplete Si-burning takes p lace over more extended, lower density regions, so that the alpha -rich fre ezeout is enhanced and produces more Ti in comparison with ordinary superno va nucleosynthesis. In addition, oxygen and carbon burning takes place in m ore extended, lower density regions than in ordinary supernovae. Therefore, the fuel elements O, C, and Al are less abundant, while a larger amount of Si, S, Ar, and Ca ("Si") are synthesized by oxygen burning; this leads to larger ratios of "Si"/O in the ejecta. Enhancement of the mass ratio betwee n complete and incomplete Si-burning regions in the ejecta may explain the abundance ratios among iron-peak elements in metal-poor stars. Also the enh anced "Si"/O ratio may explain the abundance ratios observed in star burst galaxies. We also discuss other implications of enhanced [Ti/Fe] and [Fe/O] for Galactic chemical evolution and the abundances of low-mass black hole binaries.