A two-parameter criterion for classifying the explodability of massive stars by the neutrino-driven mechanism

2015/03/25 by T. Ertl, H. -Th. Janka, H.-Th. Janka +3 · 1 voice · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR #nucl-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/0004-637x/818/2/124

23 pages, 12 figures; accepted by ApJ; revised version considerably enlarged (Fig. 7 and Sect.3.6 added)

arxiv published 2015/03/25 · arxiv created 2016/01/08 · openalex publication_date 2016/02/16 · arxiv updated 2016/02/24 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Thus far, judging the fate of a massive star (either a neutron star (NS) or a black hole) solely by its structure prior to core collapse has been ambiguous. Our work and previous attempts find a non-monotonic variation of successful and failed supernovae with zero-age main-sequence mass, for which no single structural parameter can serve as a good predictive measure. However, we identify two parameters computed from the pre-collapse structure of the progenitor, which in combination allow for a clear separation of exploding and non-exploding cases with only few exceptions (~1-2.5%) in our set of 621 investigated stellar models. One parameter is M4, defining the normalized enclosed mass for a dimensionless entropy per nucleon of s=4, and the other is mu4 = d(m/M_sun)/d(r/1000 km) at s=4, being the normalized mass-derivative at this location. The two parameters mu4 and M4*mu4 can be directly linked to the mass-infall rate, Mdot, of the collapsing star and the electron-type neutrino luminosity of the accreting proto-NS, L_nue ~ M_ns*Mdot, which play a crucial role in the "critical luminosity" concept for the theoretical description of neutrino-driven explosions as runaway phenomenon of the stalled accretion shock. All models were evolved employing the approach of Ugliano et al. for simulating neutrino-driven explosions in spherical symmetry. The neutrino emission of the accretion layer is approximated by a gray transport solver, while the uncertain neutrino emission of the 1.1 M_sun proto-NS core is parametrized by an analytic model. The free parameters connected to the core-boundary prescription are calibrated to reproduce the observables of Supernova 1987A for five different progenitor models.

Cited by

• A "Neutrino Fog" For Gravitational Waves: The Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background from Supernova Neutrino Memory
• Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems
• Neutrinos from Supernovae
• Crucial Physical Dependencies of the Core-Collapse Supernova Mechanism
• FORMATION OF BLACK HOLE LOW-MASS X-RAY BINARIES IN HIERARCHICAL TRIPLE SYSTEMS

Discussions

• Massive stars may collapse altogether into a black hole without there being a supernova - a so-called "failed supernova" event. Whether a supernova occurs as a result of the core collapse probably dep [stackexchange, 3 points]

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