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Massive stars undergo fundamental-mode and first-overtone radial pulsations with periods of 100-1000 days as Red Supergiants (RSGs). At large amplitudes, these pulsations substantially modify the outer envelope's density structure encountered by the outgoing shock wave from the eventual core collapse of these $M>9M_\odot$ stars. Using Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), we model the effects of fundamental-mode and first-overtone pulsations in the RSG envelopes, and the resulting Type IIP supernovae (SNe) using MESA+STELLA. We find that, in the case of fundamental mode pulsations, SN plateau observables such as the luminosity at day 50, $L_{50}$, time-integrated shock energy $ET$, and plateau duration $t_{\rm p}$ are consistent with radial scalings derived considering explosions of non-pulsating stars. Namely, most of the effect of the pulsation is consistent with the behavior expected for a star of a different size at the time of explosion. However, in the case of overtone pulsations, the Lagrangian displacement is not monotonic. Therefore, in such cases, excessively bright or faint SN emission at different times reflects the underdense or overdense structure of the emitting region near the SN photosphere., 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to ApJ. Comments welcome

We update the capabilities of the open-knowledge software instrument Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). RSP is a new functionality in MESAstar that models the non-linear radial stellar pulsations that characterize RR Lyrae, Cepheids, and other classes of variable stars. We significantly enhance numerical energy conservation capabilities, including during mass changes. For example, this enables calculations through the He flash that conserve energy to better than 0.001 %. To improve the modeling of rotating stars in MESA, we introduce a new approach to modifying the pressure and temperature equations of stellar structure, and a formulation of the projection effects of gravity darkening. A new scheme for tracking convective boundaries yields reliable values of the convective-core mass, and allows the natural emergence of adiabatic semiconvection regions during both core hydrogen- and helium-burning phases. We quantify the parallel performance of MESA on current generation multicore architectures and demonstrate improvements in the computational efficiency of radiative levitation. We report updates to the equation of state and nuclear reaction physics modules. We briefly discuss the current treatment of fallback in core-collapse supernova models and the thermodynamic evolution of supernova explosions. We close by discussing the new MESA Testhub software infrastructure to enhance source-code development., Comment: 57 pages, 57 figures; Accepted to ApJS

We present advances in modeling Type IIP supernovae using MESA for evolution to shock breakout coupled with STELLA for generating light and radial velocity curves. Explosion models and synthetic light curves can be used to translate observable properties of supernovae (such as the luminosity at day 50 and the duration of the plateau, as well as the observable quantity $ET$, defined as the time-weighted integrated luminosity that would have been generated if there was no ${\rm ^{56}Ni}$ in the ejecta) into families of explosions which produce the same light curve and velocities on the plateau. These predicted families of explosions provide a useful guide towards modeling observed SNe, and can constrain explosion properties when coupled with other observational or theoretical constraints. For an observed supernova with a measured ${\rm ^{56}Ni}$ mass, breaking the degeneracies within these families of explosions (ejecta mass, explosion energy, and progenitor radius) requires independent knowledge of one parameter. We expect the most common case to be a progenitor radius measurement for a nearby supernova. We show that ejecta velocities inferred from the Fe II$\lambda$ 5169 line measured during the majority of the plateau phase provide little additional information about explosion characteristics. Only during the initial shock cooling phase can photospheric velocity measurements potentially aid in unraveling light curve degeneracies., Comment: 26 pages, 30 figures. ApJ: Received 2019 March 21; revised 2019 May 13; accepted 2019 May 17; published 2019 June 26

We study the evolution and final outcome of long-lived (${\approx}10^5$ years) remnants from the merger of a He white dwarf (WD) with a more massive C/O or O/Ne WD. Using Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics ($\texttt{MESA}$), we show that these remnants have a red giant configuration supported by steady helium burning, adding mass to the WD core until it reaches $M_{\rm core}\approx 1.12-1.20 M_\odot$. At that point, the base of the surface convection zone extends into the burning layer, mixing the helium burning products (primarily carbon and magnesium) throughout the convective envelope. Further evolution depletes the convective envelope of helium, and dramatically slows the mass increase of the underlying WD core. The WD core mass growth re-initiates after helium depletion, as then an uncoupled carbon burning shell is ignited and proceeds to burn the fuel from the remaining metal-rich extended envelope. For large enough initial total merger masses, O/Ne WD cores would experience electron-capture triggered collapse to neutron stars (NSs) after growing to near Chandrasekhar mass ($M_{\rm Ch}$). Massive C/O WD cores could suffer the same fate after a carbon-burning flame converts them to O/Ne. The NS formation would release ${\approx}10^{50}$ ergs into the remaining extended low mass envelope. Using the STELLA radiative transfer code, we predict the resulting optical light curves from these exploded envelopes. Reaching absolute magnitudes of $M_V\approx -17$, these transients are bright for about one week, and have many features of the class of luminous, rapidly evolving transients studied by Drout and collaborators., 12 pages, 9 Figures, 1 Table

Figure 1: The highest masses of the CO cores and the lowest masses of the ONe cores (top), and the initial masses of the stars that produce the highest CO core masses and the lowest ONe core masses (bottom), all plotted against the carbon burning rate (CBR) factor. These models include convective boundary mixing for C burning. The mass range between CO and ONe WDs is occupied by C-O-Ne hybrid core models.

Accretion-induced collapse (AIC) occurs when an O/Ne white dwarf (WD) grows to nearly the Chandrasekhar mass ($M_{\rm Ch}$), reaching central densities that trigger electron captures in the core. Using Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics ($\texttt{MESA}$), we present the first true binary simulations of He star + O/Ne WD binaries, focusing on a $1.5 M_\odot$ He star in a 3 hour orbital period with $1.1-1.3 M_\odot$ O/Ne WDs. The helium star fills its Roche lobe after core helium burning is completed and donates helium on its thermal timescale to the WD, $\dot{M}\approx3\times10^{-6} M_\odot$/yr, a rate high enough that the accreting helium burns stably on the WD. The accumulated carbon/oxygen ashes from the helium burning undergo an unstable shell flash that initiates an inwardly moving carbon burning flame. This flame is only quenched when it runs out of carbon at the surface of the original O/Ne core. Subsequent accumulation of fresh carbon/oxygen layers also undergo thermal instabilities, but no mass loss is triggered, allowing $M_{\rm WD}\rightarrow M_{\rm Ch}$, triggering the onset of AIC. We also discuss the scenario of accreting C/O WDs that experience shell carbon ignitions to become O/Ne WDs, and then, under continuing mass transfer, lead to AIC. Studies of the AIC event rate using binary population synthesis should include all of these channels, especially this latter channel, which has been previously neglected but might dominate the rate., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

We have computed models for ultraluminous X-ray sources ("ULXs") consisting of a black-hole accretor of intermediate mass ("IMBH"; e.g., ~1000 Msun) and a captured donor star. For each of four different sets of initial donor masses and orbital separations, we computed 30,000 binary evolution models using a full Henyey stellar evolution code. To our knowledge this is the first time that a population of X-ray binaries this large has been carried out with other than approximation methods, and it serves to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach to large-scale population studies of mass-transfer binaries. In the present study, we find that in order to have a plausible efficiency for producing active ULX systems with IMBHs having luminosities > 10^{40} ergs/sec, there are two basic requirements for the capture of companion/donor stars. First, the donor stars should be massive, i.e., > 8 Msun. Second, the initial orbital separations, after circularization, should be close, i.e., < 6-30 times the radius of the donor star when on the main sequence. Even under these optimistic conditions, we show that the production rate of IMBH-ULX systems may fall short of the observed values by factors of 10-100., 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJ

The {\alpha}-formalism is a common way to parametrize the common envelope interaction between a giant star and a more compact companion. The {\alpha} parameter describes the fraction of orbital energy released by the companion that is available to eject the giant star's envelope. By using new, detailed stellar evolutionary calculations we derive a user-friendly prescription for the {\lambda} parameter and an improved approximation for the envelope binding energy, thus revising the {\alpha} equation. We then determine {\alpha} both from simulations and observations in a self consistent manner. By using our own stellar structure models as well as population considerations to reconstruct the primary's parameters at the time of the common envelope interaction, we gain a deeper understanding of the uncertainties. We find that systems with very low values of q (the ratio of the companion's mass to the mass of the primary at the time of the common envelope interaction) have higher values of {\alpha}. A fit to the data suggests that lower mass companions are left at comparable or larger orbital separations to more massive companions. We conjecture that lower mass companions take longer than a stellar dynamical time to spiral in to the giant's core, and that this is key to allowing the giant to use its own thermal energy to help unbind its envelope. As a result, although systems with light companions might not have enough orbital energy to unbind the common envelope, they might stimulate a stellar reaction that results in the common envelope ejection.

We update the capabilities of the software instrument Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) and enhance its ease of use and availability. Our new approach to locating convective boundaries is consistent with the physics of convection, and yields reliable values of the convective-core mass during both hydrogen- and helium-burning phases. Stars with become white dwarfs and cool to the point where the electrons are degenerate and the ions are strongly coupled, a realm now available to study with MESA due to improved treatments of element diffusion, latent heat release, and blending of equations of state. Studies of the final fates of massive stars are extended in MESA by our addition of an approximate Riemann solver that captures shocks and conserves energy to high accuracy during dynamic epochs. We also introduce a 1D capability for modeling the effects of Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities that, in combination with the coupling to a public version of the radiation transfer instrument, creates new avenues for exploring Type II supernova properties. These capabilities are exhibited with exploratory models of pair-instability supernovae, pulsational pair-instability supernovae, and the formation of stellar-mass black holes. The applicability of MESA is now widened by the capability to import multidimensional hydrodynamic models into MESA. We close by introducing software modules for handling floating point exceptions and stellar model optimization, as well as four new software tools— , -Docker, , and mesastar.org—to enhance MESA's education and research impact.

A hybrid C/O/Ne white dwarf (WD) -- an unburned C/O core surrounded by an O/Ne/Na mantle -- can be formed if the carbon flame is quenched in a super-AGB (SAGB) star or white dwarf merger remnant. We show that this segregated hybrid structure becomes unstable to rapid mixing within 2,000 years of the onset of WD cooling. Carbon burning includes a weak reaction that removes electrons, resulting in a lower electron-to-baryon ratio ($Y_{\rm e}$) in the regions processed by carbon burning compared to the unburned C/O core, making the O/Ne mantle denser than the C/O core as the WD cools. This is unstable to efficient mixing. We use the results of $\texttt{MESA}$ models with different size C/O cores to quantify the rate at which the cores mix with the mantle as they cool. In all cases, we find that the WDs undergo significant core/mantle mixing on timescales shorter than the time available to grow the WD to the Chandrasekhar mass ($M_{\rm Ch}$) by accretion. As a result, hybrid WDs that reach $M_{\rm Ch}$ due to later accretion will have lower central carbon fractions than assumed thus far. We briefly discuss the implications of these results for the possibility of Type Ia supernovae from hybrid WDs., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, updated to correct author affiliations

The $s$-process nucleosynthesis in Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars depends on the modeling of convective boundaries. We present models and s-process simulations that adopt a treatment of convective boundaries based on the results of hydrodynamic simulations and on the theory of mixing due to gravity waves in the vicinity of convective boundaries. Hydrodynamics simulations suggest the presence of convective boundary mixing (CBM) at the bottom of the thermal pulse-driven convective zone. Similarly, convection-induced mixing processes are proposed for the mixing below the convective envelope during third dredge-up where the 13C pocket for the s process in AGB stars forms. In this work we apply a CBM model motivated by simulations and theory to models with initial mass $M = 2$ and $M = 3M_\odot$, and with initial metal content Z = 0.01 and Z = 0.02. As reported previously, the He-intershell abundance of 12C and 16O are increased by CBM at the bottom of pulse-driven convection zone. This mixing is affecting the $^{22}Ne(��,n)^{25}Mg$ activation and the s-process effciency in the 13C-pocket. In our model CBM at the bottom of the convective envelope during the third dredgeup represents gravity wave mixing. We take further into account that hydrodynamic simulations indicate a declining mixing efficiency already about a pressure scale height from the convective boundaries, compared to mixing-length theory. We obtain the formation of the 13C-pocket with a mass of $\approx 10^{-4}M_\odot$. The final $s$-process abundances are characterized by 0.36 < [s=Fe] < 0.78 and the heavy-to-light s-process ratio is 0.23 < [hs=ls] < 0.45. Finally, we compare our results with stellar observations, pre-solar grain measurements and previous work., Submitted to ApJ on 11-24-2015. Accepted on 5-17-2016 (Manuscript #: ApJ101257)

This is the first of a series of papers presenting the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) Isochrones and Stellar Tracks (MIST) project, a new comprehensive set of stellar evolutionary tracks and isochrones computed using MESA, a state-of-the-art open-source 1D stellar evolution package. In this work, we present models with solar-scaled abundance ratios covering a wide range of ages ($5 \leq \rm \log(Age)\;[yr] \leq 10.3$), masses ($0.1 \leq M/M_{\odot} \leq 300$), and metallicities ($-2.0 \leq \rm [Z/H] \leq 0.5$). The models are self-consistently and continuously evolved from the pre-main sequence to the end of hydrogen burning, the white dwarf cooling sequence, or the end of carbon burning, depending on the initial mass. We also provide a grid of models evolved from the pre-main sequence to the end of core helium burning for $-4.0 \leq \rm [Z/H] < -2.0$. We showcase extensive comparisons with observational constraints as well as with some of the most widely used existing models in the literature. The evolutionary tracks and isochrones can be downloaded from the project website at http://waps.cfa.harvard.edu/MIST/., Accepted to ApJ

We investigate the evolution of super-AGB thermal pulse (TP) stars for a range of metallicities (Z) and explore the effect of convective boundary mixing (CBM). With decreasing metallicity and evolution along the TP phase, the He-shell flash and the third dredge-up (TDU) occur closer together in time. After some time (depending upon the CBM parameterisation), efficient TDU begins while the pulse-driven convection zone (PDCZ) is still present, causing a convective exchange of material between the PDCZ and the convective envelope. This results in the ingestion of protons into the convective He-burning pulse. Even small amounts of CBM encourage the interaction of the convection zones leading to transport of protons from the convective envelope into the He layer. H-burning luminosities exceed $10^9$ (in some cases $10^{10}$) $\mathrm{L}_\odot$. We also calculate models of dredge-out in the most massive super-AGB stars and show that the dredge-out phenomenon is another likely site of convective-reactive H-$^{12}$C combustion. We discuss the substantial uncertainties of stellar evolution models under these conditions. Nevertheless, the simulations suggest that in the convective-reactive H-combustion regime of H ingestion the star may encounter conditions for the intermediate neutron capture process (i process). We speculate that some CEMP-s/r stars could originate in i-process conditions in the H-ingestion phases of low-Z SAGB stars. This scenario would however suggest a very low electron-capture supernova rate from super-AGB stars. We also simulate potential outbursts triggered by such H-ingestion events, present their light curves and briefly discuss their transient properties., Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 17 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables

We substantially update the capabilities of the open-source software instrument Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). MESA can now simultaneously evolve an interacting pair of differentially rotating stars undergoing transfer and loss of mass and angular momentum, greatly enhancing the prior ability to model binary evolution. New MESA capabilities in fully coupled calculation of nuclear networks with hundreds of isotopes now allow MESA to accurately simulate advanced burning stages needed to construct supernova progenitor models. Implicit hydrodynamics with shocks can now be treated with MESA, enabling modeling of the entire massive star lifecycle, from pre-main sequence evolution to the onset of core collapse and nucleosynthesis from the resulting explosion. Coupling of the GYRE non-adiabatic pulsation instrument with MESA allows for new explorations of the instability strips for massive stars while also accelerating the astrophysical use of asteroseismology data. We improve treatment of mass accretion, giving more accurate and robust near-surface profiles. A new MESA capability to calculate weak reaction rates "on-the-fly" from input nuclear data allows better simulation of accretion induced collapse of massive white dwarfs and the fate of some massive stars. We discuss the ongoing challenge of chemical diffusion in the strongly coupled plasma regime, and exhibit improvements in MESA that now allow for the simulation of radiative levitation of heavy elements in hot stars. We close by noting that the MESA software infrastructure provides bit-for-bit consistency for all results across all the supported platforms, a profound enabling capability for accelerating MESA's development., Published in the ApJ Supplement Series; updated to account for published erratum

We develop analytic and numerical models of the properties of super-Eddington stellar winds, motivated by phases in stellar evolution when super-Eddington energy deposition (via, e.g., unstable fusion, wave heating, or a binary companion) heats a region near the stellar surface. This appears to occur in luminous blue variables (LBVs), Type IIn supernovae progenitors, classical novae, and X-ray bursts. We show that when the wind kinetic power exceeds Eddington, the photons are trapped and behave like a fluid. Convection does not play a significant role in the wind energy transport. The wind properties depend on the ratio of a characteristic speed in the problem vc ~ (Edot G)^{1/5} (where Edot is the heating rate) to the stellar escape speed near the heating region vesc(r_h). For vc > vesc(r_h) the wind kinetic power at large radii Edot_w ~ Edot. For vc < vesc(r_h), most of the energy is used to unbind the wind material and thus Edot_w < Edot. Multidimensional hydrodynamic simulations without radiation diffusion using FLASH and one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations with radiation diffusion using MESA are in good agreement with the analytic predictions. The photon luminosity from the wind is itself super-Eddington but in many cases the photon luminosity is likely dominated by `internal shocks' in the wind. We discuss the application of our models to eruptive mass loss from massive stars and argue that the wind models described here can account for the broad properties of LBV outflows and the enhanced mass loss in the years prior to Type IIn core-collapse supernovae., 19 pages, 11 figures. submitted to MNRAS

We demonstrate that among the potential sources of the primordial abundance variations of the proton-capture elements in globular-cluster stars proposed so far, such as the hot-bottom burning in massive AGB stars and H burning in the convective cores of supermassive and fast-rotating massive MS stars, only the supermassive MS stars with M > 10,000 Msun can explain all the observed abundance correlations without any fine-tuning of model parameters. We use our assumed chemical composition for the pristine gas in M13 (NGC6205) and its mixtures with 50% and 90% of the material partially processed in H burning in the 60,000 Msun MS model star as the initial compositions for the normal, intermediate and extreme populations of low-mass stars in this globular cluster, as suggested by its O-Na anti-correlation. We evolve these stars from the zero-age MS to the RGB tip with the thermohaline and parametric prescriptions for the RGB extra mixing. We find that the 3He-driven thermohaline convection cannot explain the evolutionary decline of [C/Fe] in M13 RGB stars, which, on the other hand, is well reproduced with the universal values for the mixing depth and rate calibrated using the observed decrease of [C/Fe] with MV in the globular cluster NGC5466 that does not have the primordial abundance variations., 11 pages, 1 table, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

When carbon is ignited off-centre in a CO core of a super-AGB star, its burning in a convective shell tends to propagate to the centre. Whether the C flame will actually be able to reach the centre depends on the efficiency of extra mixing beneath the C convective shell. Whereas thermohaline mixing is too inefficient to interfere with the C-flame propagation, convective boundary mixing can prevent the C burning from reaching the centre. As a result, a C-O-Ne white dwarf (WD) is formed, after the star has lost its envelope. Such a "hybrid" WD has a small CO core surrounded by a thick ONe zone. In our 1D stellar evolution computations, the hybrid WD is allowed to accrete C-rich material, as if it were in a close binary system and accreted H-rich material from its companion with a sufficiently high rate at which the accreted H would be processed into He under stationary conditions, assuming that He could then be transformed into C. When the mass of the accreting WD approaches the Chandrasekhar limit, we find a series of convective Urca shell flashes associated with high abundances of 23Na and 25Mg. They are followed by off-centre C ignition leading to convection that occupies almost the entire star. To model the Urca processes, we use the most recent well-resolved data for their reaction and neutrino-energy loss rates. Because of the emphasized uncertainty of the convective Urca process in our hybrid WD models of SN Ia progenitors, we consider a number of their potentially possible alternative instances for different mixing assumptions, all of which reach a phase of explosive C ignition, either off or in the centre. Our hybrid SN Ia progenitor models have much lower C to O abundance ratios at the moment of the explosive C ignition than their pure CO counterparts, which may explain the observed diversity of the SNe Ia., 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We use the stellar evolution code MESA to study dark stars. Dark stars (DSs), which are powered by dark matter (DM) self-annihilation rather than by nuclear fusion, may be the first stars to form in the Universe. We compute stellar models for accreting DSs with masses up to 10^6 M_{sun}. The heating due to DM annihilation is self-consistently included, assuming extended adiabatic contraction of DM within the minihalos in which DSs form. We find remarkably good overall agreement with previous models, which assumed polytropic interiors. There are some differences in the details, with positive implications for observability. We found that, in the mass range of 10^4 -10^5 M_{sun}, our DSs are hotter by a factor of 1.5 than those in Freese et al.(2010), are smaller in radius by a factor of 0.6, denser by a factor of 3 - 4, and more luminous by a factor of 2. Our models also confirm previous results, according to which supermassive DSs are very well approximated by (n=3)-polytropes. We also perform a first study of dark star pulsations. Our DS models have pulsation modes with timescales ranging from less than a day to more than two years in their rest frames, at z ~ 15, depending on DM particle mass and overtone number. Such pulsations may someday be used to identify bright, cool objects uniquely as DSs; if properly calibrated, they might, in principle, also supply novel standard candles for cosmological studies., Comment: 17 pages; 11 figures; revised version; accepted by ApJ

Asteroseismology of 1.0-2.0 Msun red giants by the Kepler satellite has enabled the first definitive measurements of interior rotation in both first ascent red giant branch (RGB) stars and those on the Helium burning clump. The inferred rotation rates are 10-30 days for the ~0.2Msun He degenerate cores on the RGB and 30-100 days for the He burning core in a clump star. Using the MESA code we calculate state-of-the-art stellar evolution models of low mass rotating stars from the zero-age main sequence to the cooling white dwarf (WD) stage. We include transport of angular momentum due to rotationally induced instabilities and circulations, as well as magnetic fields in radiative zones (generated by the Tayler-Spruit dynamo). We find that all models fail to predict core rotation as slow as observed on the RGB and during core He burning, implying that an unmodeled angular momentum transport process must be operating on the early RGB of low mass stars. Later evolution of the star from the He burning clump to the cooling WD phase appears to be at nearly constant core angular momentum. We also incorporate the adiabatic pulsation code, ADIPLS, to explicitly highlight this shortfall when applied to a specific Kepler asteroseismic target, KIC8366239. The MESA inlist adopted to calculate the models in this paper can be found at \url{https://authorea.com/1608/} (bottom of the document)., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. This paper has been edited using Authorea.com

OBJECTIVE: As the first laboratory to offer massively parallel sequencing-based noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for fetal aneuploidies, Sequenom Laboratories has been able to collect the largest clinical population experience data to date, including >100,000 clinical samples from all 50 U.S. states and 13 other countries. The objective of this study is to give a robust clinical picture of the current laboratory performance of the MaterniT21 PLUS LDT. STUDY DESIGN: The study includes plasma samples collected from patients with high-risk pregnancies in our CLIA-licensed, CAP-accredited laboratory between August 2012 to June 2013. Samples were assessed for trisomies 13, 18, 21 and for the presence of chromosome Y-specific DNA. Sample data and ad hoc outcome information provided by the clinician was compiled and reviewed to determine the characteristics of this patient population, as well as estimate the assay performance in a clinical setting. RESULTS: NIPT patients most commonly undergo testing at an average of 15 weeks, 3 days gestation; and average 35.1 years of age. The average turnaround time is 4.54 business days and an overall 1.3% not reportable rate. The positivity rate for Trisomy 21 was 1.51%, followed by 0.45% and 0.21% rate for Trisomies 18 and 13, respectively. NIPT positivity rates are similar to previous large clinical studies of aneuploidy in women of maternal age ≥ 35 undergoing amniocentesis. In this population 3519 patients had multifetal gestations (3.5%) with 2.61% yielding a positive NIPT result. CONCLUSION: NIPT has been commercially offered for just over 2 years and the clinical use by patients and clinicians has increased significantly. The risks associated with invasive testing have been substantially reduced by providing another assessment of aneuploidy status in high-risk patients. The accuracy and NIPT assay positivity rate are as predicted by clinical validations and the test demonstrates improvement in the current standard of care.

Classical novae are the result of thermonuclear flashes of hydrogen accreted by CO or ONe white dwarfs, leading eventually to the dynamic ejection of the surface layers. These are observationally known to be enriched in heavy elements, such as C, O and Ne that must originate in layers below the H-flash convection zone. Building on our previous work, we now present stellar evolution simulations of ONe novae and provide a comprehensive comparison of our models with published ones. Some of our models include exponential convective boundary mixing to account for the observed enrichment of the nova ejecta even when accreted material has a solar abundance distribution. Our models produce maximum temperature evolution profiles and nucleosynthesis yields in good agreement with models that generate enriched ejecta by assuming that the accreted material was pre-mixed. We confirm for ONe novae the result we reported previously, i.e.\ we found that $^3$He could be produced {\it in situ} in solar-composition envelopes accreted with slow rates ($\dot{M} < 10^{-10}\,M_\odot/\mbox{yr}$) by cold ($T_{\rm WD} < 10^7$ K) CO WDs, and that convection was triggered by $^3$He burning before the nova outburst in that case. In addition, we now find that the interplay between the $^3$He production and destruction in the solar-composition envelope accreted with an intermediate rate, e.g.\ $\dot{M} = 10^{-10}\,M_\odot/\mbox{yr}$, by the $1.15\,M_\odot$ ONe WD with a relatively high initial central temperature, e.g.\ $T_{\rm WD} = 15\times 10^6$ K, leads to the formation of a thick radiative buffer zone that separates the bottom of the convective envelope from the WD surface. (Abridged), 19 pages, 23 figures, 2 tables, accepted to publication by MNRAS

Of the more than 150000 targets followed by the Kepler Mission, about 10% were selected as red giants. Due to their high scientific value, in particular for Galaxy population studies and stellar structure and evolution, their Kepler light curves were made public in late 2011. More than 13000 (over 85%) of these stars show intrinsic flux variability caused by solar-like oscillations making them ideal for large scale asteroseismic investigations. We automatically extracted individual frequencies and measured the period spacings of the dipole modes in nearly every red giant. These measurements naturally classify the stars into various populations, such as the red giant branch, the low-mass (M/Msol < 1.8) helium-core-burning red clump, and the higher-mass (M/Msol > 1.8) secondary clump. The period spacings also reveal that a large fraction of the stars show rotationally induced frequency splittings. This sample of stars will undoubtedly provide an extremely valuable source for studying the stellar population in the direction of the Kepler field, in particular when combined with complementary spectroscopic surveys., 6 page, 5 figures, accepted by ApJL

Based on stellar evolution simulations, we demonstrate that rapidly accreting white dwarfs in close binary systems are an astrophysical site for the intermediate neutron-capture process. During recurrent and very strong He-shell flashes in the stable H-burning accretion regime H-rich material enters the He-shell flash convection zone. $^{12}$C(p,$\gamma)^{13}$N reactions release enough energy to potentially impact convection, and i process is activated through the $^{13}$C($\alpha$,n)$^{16}$O reaction. The H-ingestion flash may not cause a split of the convection zone as it was seen in simulations of He-shell flashes in post-AGB and low-Z AGB stars. We estimate that for the production of first-peak heavy elements this site can be of similar importance for galactic chemical evolution as the s-process production by low-mass AGB stars. The He-shell flashes result in the expansion and, ultimately, ejection of the accreted and then i-process enriched material, via super-Eddington luminosity winds or Roche-lobe overflow. The white dwarf models do not retain any significant amount of the accreted mass, with a He retention efficiency of $\leq 10\%$ depending on mass and convective boundary mixing assumptions. This makes the evolutionary path of such systems to supernova Ia explosion highly unlikely., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted to publication in ApJ Letters after minor changes

We substantially update the capabilities of the open source software package Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), and its one-dimensional stellar evolution module, MESA Star. Improvements in MESA Star's ability to model the evolution of giant planets now extends its applicability down to masses as low as one-tenth that of Jupiter. The dramatic improvement in asteroseismology enabled by the space-based Kepler and CoRoT missions motivates our full coupling of the ADIPLS adiabatic pulsation code with MESA Star. This also motivates a numerical recasting of the Ledoux criterion that is more easily implemented when many nuclei are present at non-negligible abundances. This impacts the way in which MESA Star calculates semi-convective and thermohaline mixing. We exhibit the evolution of 3-8 Msun stars through the end of core He burning, the onset of He thermal pulses, and arrival on the white dwarf cooling sequence. We implement diffusion of angular momentum and chemical abundances that enable calculations of rotating-star models, which we compare thoroughly with earlier work. We introduce a new treatment of radiation-dominated envelopes that allows the uninterrupted evolution of massive stars to core collapse. This enables the generation of new sets of supernovae, long gamma-ray burst, and pair-instability progenitor models. We substantially modify the way in which MESA Star solves the fully coupled stellar structure and composition equations, and we show how this has improved MESA's performance scaling on multi-core processors. Updates to the modules for equation of state, opacity, nuclear reaction rates, and atmospheric boundary conditions are also provided. We describe the MESA Software Development Kit (SDK) that packages all the required components needed to form a unified and maintained build environment for MESA. [Abridged], Accepted for publication in The ApJ Supplement Series. Extra informations required to reproduce the calculations in this paper are available at http://mesastar.org/results/mesa2

The stellar mass range 8, Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, 1 table. Submitted to ApJ 2013 February 19; accepted 2013 June 4

We examine the properties of white dwarfs (WDs) accreting hydrogen-rich matter in and near the stable burning regime of accretion rates as modeled by time-dependent calculations done with Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). We report the stability boundary for WDs of masses between 0.51 solar masses and 1.34 solar masses as found via time-dependent calculations. We also examine recurrent novae that are accreting at rates close to, but below, the stable burning limit and report their recurrence times and ignition masses. Our dense grid in accretion rates finds the expected minimum possible recurrence times as a function of the WD mass. This enables inferences to be made about the minimum WD mass possible to reach a specific recurrence time. We compare our computational models of post-outburst novae to the stably burning WDs and explicitly calculate the duration and effective temperature (Teff) of the post-novae WD in the supersoft phase. We agree with the measured turnoff time - Teff relation in M31 by Henze and collaborators, infer WD masses in the 1.0-1.3 solar masses range, and predict ejection masses consistent with those observed. We close by commenting on the importance of the hot helium layer generated by stable or unstable hydrogen burning for the short- and long-term evolution of accreting white dwarfs., Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal

White dwarfs accreting from helium stars can stably burn at the accreted rate and avoid the challenge of mass loss associated with unstable Helium burning that is a concern for many Type Ia supernovae scenarios. We study binaries with helium stars of mass $1.25 M_\odot\le M_{\rm{He}} \le 1.8 M_\odot$, which have lost their hydrogen rich envelopes in an earlier common envelope event and now orbit with periods ($P_{\rm orb}$) of several hours with non-rotating $0.84$ and $1.0 M_\odot$ C/O WDs. The helium stars fill their Roche lobes (RLs) after exhaustion of central helium and donate helium on their thermal timescales (${\sim}10^5$yr). As shown by others, these mass transfer rates coincide with the steady helium burning range for WDs, and grow the WD core up to near the Chandrasekhar mass ($M_{\rm Ch}$) and a core carbon ignition. We show here, however, that many of these scenarios lead to an ignition of hot carbon ashes near the outer edge of the WD and an inward going carbon flame that does not cause an explosive outcome. For $P_{\rm orb} = 3$ hours, $1.0 M_\odot$ C/O WDs with donor masses $M_{\rm He}\gtrsim1.8 M_\odot$ experience a shell carbon ignition, while $M_{\rm He}\lesssim1.3 M_\odot$ will fall below the steady helium burning range and undergo helium flashes before reaching core C ignition. Those with $1.3 M_\odot \lesssim M_{\rm He} \lesssim 1.7 M_\odot$ will experience a core C ignition. We also calculate the retention fraction of accreted helium when the accretion rate leads to recurrent weak helium flashes., 9 pages, 13 figures

Novae are cataclysmic variables driven by accretion of H-rich material onto a white-dwarf (WD) star from its low-mass main-sequence binary companion. New time-domain observational capabilities, such as the Palomar Transient Factory and Pan-STARRS, have revealed a diversity of their behaviour that should be theoretically addressed. Nova outbursts depend sensitively on nuclear physics data, and more readily available nova simulations are needed in order to effectively prioritize experimental effort in nuclear astrophysics. In this paper we use the MESA stellar evolution code to construct multicycle nova evolution sequences with CO WD cores. We explore a range of WD masses and accretion rates as well as the effect of different cooling times before the onset of accretion. In addition, we study the dependence on the elemental abundance distribution of accreted material and convective boundary mixing at the core-envelope interface. Models with such convective boundary mixing display an enrichment of the accreted envelope with C and O from the underlying white dwarf that is commensurate with observations. We compare our results with the previous work and investigate a new scenario for novae with the 3He-triggered convection., (26 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication by ApJ)

All evolved stars with masses M, 15 pages, 5 figures, To Appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters

We have computed an extensive grid of binary evolution tracks to represent low- and intermediate mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs and IMXBs). The grid includes 42,000 models which covers 60 initial donor masses over the range of 1-4 solar masses and, for each of these, 700 initial orbital periods over the range of 10-250 hours. These results can be applied to understanding LMXBs and IMXBs: those that evolve analogously to CVs; that form ultracompact binaries with orbital periods in the range of 6-50 minutes; and that lead to wide orbits with giant donors. We also investigate the relic binary recycled radio pulsars into which these systems evolve. To evolve the donor stars in this study, we utilized a newly developed stellar evolution code called "MESA" that was designed, among other things, to be able to handle very low-mass and degenerate donors. This first application of the results is aimed at an understanding of the newly discovered pulsar PSR J1614-2230 which has a 1.97 solar masses neutron star, orbital period = 8.7 days, and a companion star of 0.5 solar mass. We show that (i) this system is a cousin to the LMXB Cyg X-2; (ii) for neutron stars of canonical birth mass 1.4 solar masses, the initial donor stars which produce the closest relatives to PSR J1614-2230 have a mass between 3.4-3.8 solar masses; (iii) neutron stars as massive as 1.97 solar masses are not easy to produce in spite of the initially high mass of the donor star, unless they were already born as relatively massive neutron stars; (iv) to successfully produce a system like PSR J1614-2230 requires a minimum initial neutron star mass of at least 1.6+-0.1 solar masses, as well as initial donor masses and orbital period of ~ 4.25+-0.10 solar masses and ~49+-2 hrs, respectively; and (v) the current companion star is largely composed of CO, but should have a surface H abundance of ~10-15%., 9 pages, 6 figures, simulateapj style, accepted by ApJ

Context: Ogata et al. (2009; hereafter OKK) presented a theoretical determination of the triple-alpha nuclear reaction rate. Their rate differs from the NACRE rate by many orders of magnitude at temperatures relevant for low mass stars. Aims: We explore the evolutionary implications of adopting the OKK triple-alpha reaction rate in low mass stars and compare the results with those obtained using the NACRE rate. Methods: The triple-alpha reaction rates are compared by following the evolution of stellar models at 1 and 1.5 Msol with Z=0.0002 and Z=0.02. Results: Results show that the OKK rate has severe consequences for the late stages of stellar evolution in low mass stars. Most notable is the shortening--or disappearance--of the red giant phase. Conclusions: The OKK triple-alpha reaction rate is incompatible with observations of extended red giant branches and He burning stars in old stellar systems., Comment: Prepared as an A&A Research Note but not yet submitted. Comments are welcome

Hundreds of substellar companions to solar-type stars will be discovered with the Kepler satellite. Kepler's extreme photometric precision gives access to low-amplitude stellar variability contributed by a variety of physical processes. We discuss in detail the periodic flux modulations arising from the tidal force on the star due to a substellar companion. An analytic expression for the variability is derived in the equilibrium-tide approximation. We demonstrate analytically and through numerical solutions of the linear, nonadiabatic stellar oscillation equations that the equilibrium-tide formula works extremely well for stars of mass, 13 pages (emulateapj), 9 figures, 3 tables, submitted to ApJ

We explore the outcome of mass transfer via Roche lobe overflow of pure helium burning stars in close binaries with WDs. The evolution is driven by the loss of angular momentum through gravitational wave radiation (GWR), and both stars are modeled using Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). The donors have masses of and accrete onto WDs of mass MWD from to . The initial orbital periods (Porb) span 20–80 minutes. For all cases, the accretion rate onto the WD is below the stable helium burning range, leading to accumulation of helium followed by unstable ignition. The mass of the convective core in the donors is small enough so that the WD accretes enough helium-rich matter to undergo a thermonuclear runaway in the helium shell before any carbon–oxygen enriched matter is transferred. The mass of the accumulated helium shell depends on MWD and the accretion rate. We show that for and , the first flash is likely vigorous enough to trigger a detonation in the helium layer. These thermonuclear runaways may be observed as either faint and fast Ia SNe or, if the carbon in the core is also detonated, Type Ia SNe. Those that survive the first flash and eject mass will have a temporary increase in orbital separation, but GWR drives the donor back into contact, resuming mass transfer and triggering several subsequent weaker flashes.

We introduce GYRE, a new open-source stellar oscillation code which solves the adiabatic/non-adiabatic pulsation equations using a novel Magnus Multiple Shooting (MMS) numerical scheme. The code has a global error scaling of up to 6th order in the grid spacing, and can therefore achieve high accuracy with few grid points. It is moreover robust and efficiently makes use of multiple processor cores and/or nodes. We present an example calculation using GYRE, and discuss recent work to integrate GYRE into the asteroseismic optimization module of the MESA stellar evolution code., 2 pages; to appear in Proc. IAU Symposium 301: Precision Asteroseismology

"Evolve ZAMS", "EZ" for short, is derived from Peter Eggleton's stellar evolution program. The core of EZ is a stripped down, rewritten version of a subset of Eggleton's code, specialized to handle single star evolution from the zero-age main sequence until forced to stop by an event such as a helium flash or a crystallizing core. The procedure and data interfaces to the program are designed to be easy to use while still providing a wide range of function. EZ is written in Fortran 95 following current programming practices and can be downloaded from http://theory.kitp.ucsb.edu/~paxton/., 2 pages. To appear in PASP. Download tar file with source code, data, and instructions for building EZ from http://theory.kitp.ucsb.edu/~paxton/ -- website has more information and pdf's for many plots of stellar evolution

We investigate the lowest mass stars that produce Type-II supernovae, motivated by recent results showing that a large fraction of type-II supernova progenitors for which there are direct detections display unexpectedly low luminosity (for a review see e.g. Smartt 2009). There are three potential evolutionary channels leading to this fate. Alongside the standard ‘massive star’ Fe-core collapse scenario we investigate the likelihood of electron capture supernovae (EC-SNe) from super-AGB (S-AGB) stars in their thermal pulse phase, from failed massive stars for which neon burning and other advanced burning stages fail to prevent the star from contracting to the critical densities required to initiate rapid electron-capture reactions and thus the star's collapse. We find it indeed possible that both of these relatively exotic evolutionary channels may be realised but it is currently unclear for what proportion of stars. Ultimately, the supernova light curves, explosion energies, remnant properties (see e.g. Knigge et al. 2011) and ejecta composition are the quantities desired to establish the role that these stars at the lower edge of the massive star mass range play.

After off-center C ignition in the cores of super-AGB stars the C flame propagates all the way down to the center, trailing behind it the C-shell convective zone, and thus building a degenerate ONe core. This standard picture is obtained in stellar evolution simulations if the bottom C-shell convection boundary is assumed to be a discontinuity associated with a strict interpretation of the Schwarzschild condition for convective instability. However, this boundary is prone to additional mixing processes, such as thermohaline convection and convective boundary mixing. Using hydrodynamic simulations we show that, contrary to previous results, thermohaline mixing is too inefficient to interfere with the C-flame propagation. However, even a small amount of convective boundary mixing removes the physical conditions required for the C-flame propagation all the way to the center. This result holds even if we allow for some turbulent heat transport in the CBM region. As a result, super AGB stars build in their interiors hybrid C-O-Ne degenerate cores composed of a relatively large CO core (M_CO ~ 0.2 M_sun) surrounded by a thick ONe zone (M_ONe ~ 0.85 M_sun) with another thin CO layer above. If exposed by mass loss, these cores will become hybrid C-O-Ne white dwarfs. Otherwise, the ignition of C-rich material in the central core, surrounded by the thick ONe zone, may trigger a thermonuclear supernova explosion. The quenching of the C-flame may have implications for the ignition mechanism of SN Ia in the double-degenerate merger scenario., 26 pages, 10 figures, accepted by ApJ

The R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars are hydrogen-deficient, variable stars that are most likely the result of He-CO WD mergers. They display extremely low oxygen isotopic ratios, 16O/18O ~ 1 - 10, 12C/13C>=100, and enhancements up to 2.6dex in F and in s-process elements from Zn to La, compared to solar. These abundances provide stringent constraints on the physical processes during and after the double-degenerate merger. As shown before O-isotopic ratios observed in RCB stars cannot result from the dynamic double-degenerate merger phase, and we investigate now the role of the long-term 1D spherical post-merger evolution and nucleosynthesis based on realistic hydrodynamic merger progenitor models. We adopt a model for extra envelope mixing to represent processes driven by rotation originating in the dynamical merger. Comprehensive nucleosynthesis post-processing simulations for these stellar evolution models reproduce, for the first time, the full range of the observed abundances for almost all the elements measured in RCB stars: 16O/18O ratios between 9 and 15, C-isotopic ratios above 100, and ~1.4 - 2.35dex F enhancements, along with enrichments in s-process elements. The nucleosynthesis processes in our models constrain the length and temperature in the dynamic merger shell-of-fire feature as well as the envelope mixing in the post-merger phase. s-process elements originate either in the shell-of-fire merger feature or during the post-merger evolution, but the contribution from the AGB progenitors is negligible. The post-merger envelope mixing must eventually cease ~ 10^6yr after the dynamic merger phase, before the star enters the RCB phase., accepted for publication in ApJ

We study the response of giant stars to mass loss. One-dimensional simulations of red and asymptotic giant branch stars with mass loss rates from $10^{-3}$ up to a few \msun/yr show in no case any significant radius increase. The largest radius increase of 0.2% was found in the case with the lowest mass loss rate. For dynamical-timescale mass loss rates, that may be encountered during a common envelope phase, the evolution is not adiabatic. The superadiabatic outer layer of the giant's envelope has a local thermal timescale comparable to the dynamical timescale. Therefore, this layer has enough time to readjust thermally. Moreover, the giant star is driven out of hydrostatic equilibrium and evolves dynamically. In these cases no increase of the stellar radius with respect to its initial value is found. If the mass loss rate is high enough, the superadiabaticity of the outer layer is lost progressively and a radiative zone forms due to a combination of thermal and dynamical readjustment. Conditions for unstable mass transfer based on adiabatic mass loss models that predict a significant radius increase, may need to be re-evaluated., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. Minor changes since previous version

[Abbreviated] We have investigated the color-magnitude diagram of Omega Centauri and find that the blue main sequence (bMS) can be reproduced only by models that have a of helium abundance in the range Y=0.35-$0.40. To explain the faint subgiant branch of the reddest stars ("MS-a/RG-a" sequence), isochrones for the observed metallicity ([Fe/H]\approx0.7) appear to require both a high age (~13Gyr) and enhanced CNO abundances ([CNO/Fe]\approx0.9$). Y~0.35 must also be assumed in order to counteract the effects of high CNO on turnoff colors, and thereby to obtain a good fit to the relatively blue turnoff of this stellar population. This suggest a short chemical evolution period of time ( =6.8M_sun, M_He,core>=1.245M_sun) predict too large N-enhancements, which limits their role in contributing to the extreme populations. We show quantitatively that highly He- and N-enriched AGB ejecta have particularly efficient cooling properties. Based on these results and on the reconstruction of the orbit of Omega Cen with respect to the Milky Way we propose the galactic plane passage gas purging scenario for the chemical evolution of this cluster. Our model addresses the formation and properties of the bMS population (including their central location in the cluster). We follow our model descriptively through four passage events, which could explain not only some key properties of the bMS, but also of the MS-a/RGB-a and the s-enriched stars.

We explore the variation in single star 15-30 $\rm{M}_{\odot}$, non-rotating, solar metallicity, pre-supernova MESA models due to changes in the number of isotopes in a fully-coupled nuclear reaction network and adjustments in the mass resolution. Within this two-dimensional plane we quantitatively detail the range of core masses at various stages of evolution, mass locations of the main nuclear burning shells, electron fraction profiles, mass fraction profiles, burning lifetimes, stellar lifetimes, and compactness parameter at core-collapse for models with and without mass loss. Up to carbon burning we generally find mass resolution has a larger impact on the variations than the number of isotopes, while the number of isotopes plays a more significant role in determining the span of the variations for neon, oxygen and silicon burning. Choice of mass resolution dominates the variations in the structure of the intermediate convection zone and secondary convection zone during core and shell hydrogen burning respectively, where we find a minimum mass resolution of $\approx$ 0.01 $\rm{M}_{\odot}$ is necessary to achieve convergence in the helium core mass at the $\approx$5% level. On the other hand, at the onset of core-collapse we find $\approx$30% variations in the central electron fraction and mass locations of the main nuclear burning shells, a minimum of $\approx$127 isotopes is needed to attain convergence of these values at the $\approx$10% level., Comment: 32 pages, 1 table, 25 figures, Accepted ApJS