No abstract

We present an implicit finite difference representation for general relativistic radiation hydrodynamics in spherical symmetry. Our code, AGILE-BOLTZTRAN, solves the Boltzmann transport equation for the angular and spectral neutrino distribution functions in self-consistent simulations of stellar core collapse and postbounce evolution. It implements a dynamically adaptive grid in comoving coordinates. A comoving frame in the momentum phase space facilitates the evaluation and tabulation of neutrino-matter interaction cross sections but produces a multitude of observer corrections in the transport equation. Most macroscopically interesting physical quantities are defined by expectation values of the distribution function. We optimize the finite differencing of the microscopic transport equation for a consistent evolution of important expectation values. We test our code in simulations launched from progenitor stars with 13 solar masses and 40 solar masses. Half a second after core collapse and bounce, the protoneutron star in the latter case reaches its maximum mass and collapses further to form a black hole. When the hydrostatic gravitational contraction sets in, we find a transient increase in electron flavor neutrino luminosities due to a change in the accretion rate. The -and -neutrino luminosities and rms energies, however, continue to rise because previously shock-heated material with a nondegenerate electron gas starts to replace the cool degenerate material at their production site. We demonstrate this by supplementing the concept of neutrinospheres with a more detailed statistical description of the origin of escaping neutrinos. Adhering to our tradition, we compare the evolution of the 13 M progenitor star to corresponding simulations with the multigroup flux-limited diffusion approximation, based on a recently developed flux limiter. We find similar results in the postbounce phase and validate this MGFLD approach for the spherically symmetric case with standard input physics.

We report on the stellar core collapse, bounce, and postbounce evolution of a 13 M ᭪ star in a self-consistent general relativistic spherically symmetric simulation based on Boltzmann neutrino transport. We conclude that approximations to exact neutrino transport and the omission of general relativistic effects were not alone responsible for the failure of numerous preceding attempts to model supernova explosions in spherical symmetry. Compared to simulations in Newtonian gravity, the general relativistic simulation results in a smaller shock radius. We however argue that the higher neutrino luminosities and rms energies in the general relativistic case could lead to a larger supernova explosion energy.

We have performed ab initio neutrino radiation hydrodynamics simulations in three and two spatial dimensions (3D and 2D) of core-collapse supernovae from the same 15 M progenitor through 440 ms after core bounce. Both 3D and 2D models achieve explosions, however, the onset of explosion (shock revival) is delayed by ∼100 ms in 3D relative to the 2D counterpart and the growth of the diagnostic explosion energy is slower. This is consistent with previously reported 3D simulations utilizing iron-core progenitors with dense mantles. In the ∼100 ms before the onset of explosion, diagnostics of neutrino heating and turbulent kinetic energy favor earlier explosion in 2D. During the delay, the angular scale of convective plumes reaching the shock surface grows and explosion in 3D is ultimately lead by a single, large-angle plume, giving the expanding shock a directional orientation not dissimilar from those imposed by axial symmetry in 2D simulations. We posit that shock revival and explosion in the 3D simulation may be delayed until sufficiently large plumes form, whereas such plumes form more rapidly in 2D, permitting earlier explosions.

We present four ab initio axisymmetric core-collapse supernova simulations initiated from 12, 15, 20, and 25 M  zero-age main sequence progenitors. All of the simulations yield explosions and havebeen evolved for at least 1.2 s after core bounce and 1 s after material first becomes unbound. These simulations were computed with our CHIMERA code employing RbR spectral neutrino transport, special and general relativistic transport effects, and state-of-the-art neutrino interactions. Continuing the evolution beyond 1 s after core bounce allows the explosions to develop more fully and the processes involved in powering the explosions to become more clearly evident. We compute explosion energy estimates, including the negative gravitational binding energy of the stellar envelope outside the expanding shock, of 0.34, 0.88, 0.38, and 0.70 Bethe (B≡10 51 erg) and increasing at 0.03, 0.15, 0.19, and 0.52 B s 1 -, respectively, for the 12, 15, 20, and 25 M  models at the endpoint of this report. We examine the growth of the explosion energy in our models through detailed analyses of the energy sources and flows. We discuss how the explosion energies may be subject to stochastic variations as exemplfied by the effect of the explosion geometry of the 20 M  model in reducing its explosion energy. We compute the proto-neutron star masses and kick velocities. We compare our results for the explosion energies and ejected Ni 56 masses against some observational standards despite the large error bars in both models and observations.

We present an overview of four ab initio axisymmetric core-collapse supernova simulations employing detailed spectral neutrino transport computed with our CHIMERA code and initiated from Woosley & Heger (2007) progenitors of mass 12, 15, 20, and 25 M ⊙ . All four models exhibit shock revival over ∼ 200 ms (leading to the possibility of explosion), driven by neutrino energy deposition. Hydrodynamic instabilities that impart substantial asymmetries to the shock aid these revivals, with convection appearing first in the 12 M ⊙ model and the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) appearing first in the 25 M ⊙ model. Three of the models have developed pronounced prolate morphologies (the 20 M ⊙ model has remained approximately spherical). By 500 ms after bounce the mean shock radii in all four models exceed 3,000 km and the diagnostic explosion energies are 0.33, 0.66, 0.65, and 0.70 Bethe (B = 10 51 ergs) for the 12, 15, 20, and 25 M ⊙ models, respectively, and are increasing. The three least massive of our models are already sufficiently energetic to completely unbind the envelopes of their progenitors (i.e., to explode), as evidenced by our best estimate of their explosion energies, which first become positive at 320, 380, and 440 ms after bounce. By 850 ms the 12 M ⊙ diagnostic explosion energy has saturated at 0.38 B, and our estimate for the final kinetic energy of the ejecta is ∼ 0.3 B, which is comparable to observations for lower-mass progenitors.

With exact three-flavor Boltzmann neutrino transport, we simulate the stellar core collapse, bounce, and postbounce evolution of a 13M star in spherical symmetry, the Newtonian limit, without invoking convection. In the absence of convection, prior spherically symmetric models, which implemented approximations to Boltzmann transport, failed to produce explosions. We consider exact transport to determine if these failures were due to the transport approximations made and to answer remaining fundamental questions in supernova theory. The model presented here is the first in a sequence of models beginning with different progenitors. In this model, a supernova explosion is not obtained.

We investigate neutrino-driven convection in core collapse supernovae and its ramifications for the explosion mechanism. We begin with an "optimistic" postbounce model in two important respects: (1) we begin with a 15 M ⊙ precollapse model, which is representative of the class of stars with compact iron cores; (2) we implement Newtonian gravity. Our precollapse model is evolved through core collapse and bounce in one dimension using multigroup (neutrino-energy-dependent) flux-limited diffusion (MGFLD) neutrino transport and Newtonian Lagrangian hydrodynamics, providing realistic initial conditions for the postbounce convection and evolution.Our two-dimensional simulation began at 12 ms after bounce and proceeded for 500 ms.We couple two-dimensional (PPM) hydrodynamics to precalculated one-dimensional MGFLD neutrino transport. (The neutrino distributions used for matter heating and deleptonization in our 2D run are obtained from an accompanying 1D simulation. The accuracy of this approximation is assessed.) For the moment we sacrifice dimensionality for realism in other aspects of our neutrino transport. MGFLD is an implementation of neutrino transport that simultaneously (a) is multigroup and (b) simulates with sufficient realism the transport of neutrinos in opaque, semitransparent, and transparent regions. Both are crucial to the accurate determination of postshock neutrino heating, which sensitively depends on the luminosities, spectra, and flux factors of the electron neutrinos and antineutrinos emerging from their respective neutrinospheres.By 137 ms after bounce, we see neutrino-driven convection rapidly developing beneath the shock. By 212 ms after bounce, this convection becomes large-scale, characterized by higher-entropy, expanding upflows and denser, lower-entropy, finger-like downflows. The upflows reach the shock and distort it from sphericity. The radial convection velocities at this time become supersonic just below the shock, reaching magnitudes in excess of 10 9 cm/sec. Eventually, however, the shock recedes to smaller radii, and at ∼500 ms after bounce there is no evidence in our simulation of an explosion or of a developing explosion.Our angle-averaged density, entropy, electron fraction, and radial velocity profiles in our below the electron neutrino and antineutrino gain radii, above which the neutrino luminosities are essentially constant (i.e., the neutrino sources are entirely enclosed), in an effort to assess how spherically symmetric our neutrino sources remain during our 2D evolution, and therefore, to assess our use of precalculated 1D MGFLD neutrino distributions in calculating the matter heating and deleptonization. We find no differences below the neutrinosphere radii, and between the neutrinosphere and gain radii, no differences with obvious ramifications for the supernova outcome.We note that the interplay between neutrino transport and convection below the neutrinospheres is a delicate matter, and is discussed at greater length in another paper (Mezzacappa et al. 1997a).However, ...