Work

Gotta Go Fast: A Generalization of the Escape Speed to Fluid-dynamical Explosions and Implications for Astrophysical Transients

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: A star’s ability to explode in a core-collapse supernova is correlated with its density profile, ρ(r), such that compact stars with shallow density profiles preferentially “fail” and produce black holes. This correlation can be understood from a mass perspective, as shallower density profiles enclose ∼3M ⊙ (i.e., the maximum neutron-star mass) at relatively small radii, but could also be due to the fact that a shockwave (driving the explosion) inevitably stalls if the density profile into which it propagates is shallower than ρ(r) ∝ r −2. Here, we show that this condition—the density profile being steeper than ρ ∝ r −2—is necessary, but not sufficient, for generating a strong explosion. In particular, we find solutions to the fluid equations that describe a shockwave propagating at a fixed fraction of the local freefall speed into a temporally evolving, infalling medium, the density profile of which scales as ρ ∝ r −n at large radii. The speed of the shock diverges as n → 2 and declines (eventually to below the Keplerian escape speed) as n increases, while the total energy contained in the explosion approaches zero as the shock recedes to large distances. These solutions therefore represent fluid-dynamical analogs of marginally bound orbits, and yield the “shock escape speed” as a function of the density profile. We also suggest that stellar explodability is correlated with the power-law index of the density at ∼109 cm, where the neutrino diffusion time equals the local dynamical time for most massive stars, which agrees with supernova simulations.

Source: The Astrophysical Journal

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/adce6f

Authors: Daniel A. Paradiso, Eric R. Coughlin

Institution: Syracuse University

Language: English

Topic: Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $4,499