Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: The neutrino-heated "gain layer" immediately behind the stalled shock in a core-collapse supernova is unstable to high-Reynolds-number turbulent convection. We carry out and analyze a new set of 19 high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) simulations with a three-species neutrino leakage/heating scheme and compare with spherically symmetric (one-dimensional, 1D) and axisymmetric (two-dimensional, 2D) simulations carried out with the same methods. We study the postbounce supernova evolution in a 15 M ☉ progenitor star and vary the local neutrino heating rate, the magnitude and spatial dependence of asphericity from convective burning in the Si/O shell, and spatial resolution. Our simulations suggest that there is a direct correlation between the strength of turbulence in the gain layer and the susceptibility to explosion. 2D and 3D simulations explode at much lower neutrino heating rates than 1D simulations. This is commonly explained by the fact that nonradial dynamics allows accreting material to stay longer in the gain layer. We show that this explanation is incomplete. Our results indicate that the effective turbulent ram pressure exerted on the shock plays a crucial role by allowing multi-dimensional models to explode at a lower postshock thermal pressure and thus with less neutrino heating than 1D models. We connect the turbulent ram pressure with turbulent energy at large scales and in this way explain why 2D simulations are erroneously exploding more easily than 3D simulations.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Sean M. Couch, Christian D. Ott
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Centre for Supercomputing Applications, Sherman Fairchild Foundation, Space Telescope Science Institute, Office of Science, National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Awards: G102163711, G1550195257, G2287611682, G262962599, In situ characterization of associations and resource exchange between free-living nitrogen-fixers and switchgrass, Collaborative Research: Petascale Simulations of Core-Collapse Supernovae and Hypermassive Neutron Stars, G3248584790, G3318903820, Petascale Computing of Thermonuclear Supernova Explosions, CAREER: General Relativistic Modeling of Stellar Death for Advanced LIGO Multi-Messenger Astrophysics, G498139845, Central Engine Models for Extreme Core-Collapse Supernovae and Long Gamma-Ray Bursts, G6848031779, G6918803902, PetaCactus: Unraveling the Supernova -- Gamma-Ray Burst Mystery, G969889393, G993149817
OpenAlex ID: W2019590087