QUARK-NOVAE, COSMIC REIONIZATION, AND EARLY r-PROCESS ELEMENT PRODUCTION

We examine the case for quark-novae (QNe) as possible sources for the reionization and early metal enrichment of the universe. QNe are predicted to arise from the explosive collapse (and conversion) of sufficiently massive neutron stars into quark stars (QSs). A QN can occur over a range of timescales following the supernova (SN) event. For QNe that arise days to weeks after the SNe, we show that dual shock that arises as the QN ejecta …