Evolution, explosion, and nucleosynthesis of core-collapse supernovae

We present a new set of presupernova evolutions and explosive yields of massive stars of initial solar composition (Y=0.285, Z=0.02) in the mass range 13-35 Msolar. All the models have been computed with the latest version (4.97) of the FRANEC code that now includes a nuclear network extending from neutrons to 98Mo. The explosive nucleosynthesis has been computed twice: a first one with a hydro code and a second one following the simpler radiation-dominated shock approximation (RDA). The main results concerning the models and the associated explosions are as follows: (1) the inclusion of the latest available input physics does not alter significantly the main properties of the presupernova models with respect to our previous ones; (2) the differences between the old and new explosive yields computed with the RDA remain confined within a factor of 2 for most of the nuclei; (3) the differences between the elemental RDA yields and those computed with a hydro code do not exceed 0.1 dex, with the exceptions of the elements produced mainly by the complete explosive Si burning: in this case the variations are anyway less than a factor of 3; (4) the relation between the final kinetic energy and the 56Ni ejected weakens as the mass of the progenitor star increases; (5) the yields corresponding to the ejection of a given amount of 56Ni are in fair agreement with those obtained by a more energetic explosion in which the mass cut is chosen in order to give the same 56Ni. The production factors (integrated over a Salpeter mass function between 13 and 35 Msolar) of the majority of the isotopes show an almost scaled solar distribution relative to oxygen. The few exceptions are discussed in detail. We also find that the present integrated yields allow a fraction of the order of 10%-20% of Type Ia supernovae if their latest available yields are adopted.