No Arabic abstract
(Abridged.) The accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of a white dwarf (WD) may lead to the formation of a protoneutron star and a collapse-driven supernova explosion. This process represents a path alternative to thermonuclear disruption of accreting white dwarfs in Type Ia supernovae. Neutrino and gravitational-wave (GW) observations may provide crucial information necessary to reveal a potential AIC. Motivated by the need for systematic predictions of the GW signature of AIC, we present results from an extensive set of general-relativistic AIC simulations using a microphysical finite-temperature equation of state and an approximate treatment of deleptonization during collapse. Investigating a set of 114 progenitor models in rotational equilibrium, with a wide range of rotational configurations, temperatures and central densities, we extend previous Newtonian studies and find that the GW signal has a generic shape akin to what is known as a Type III signal in the literature. We discuss the detectability of the emitted GWs, showing that the signal-to-noise ratio for current or next-generation interferometer detectors could be high enough to detect such events in our Galaxy. Some of our AIC models form massive quasi-Keplerian accretion disks after bounce. In rapidly differentially rotating models, the disk mass can be as large as ~0.8-Msun. Slowly and/or uniformly rotating models produce much smaller disks. Finally, we find that the postbounce cores of rapidly spinning white dwarfs can reach sufficiently rapid rotation to develop a nonaxisymmetric rotational instability.
We study the three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamics of the post-core-bounce phase of the collapse of a 27-solar-mass star and pay special attention to the development of the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) and neutrino-driven convection. To this end, we perform 3D general-relativistic simulations with a 3-species neutrino leakage scheme. The leakage scheme captures the essential aspects of neutrino cooling, heating, and lepton number exchange as predicted by radiation-hydrodynamics simulations. The 27-solar-mass progenitor was studied in 2D by B. Mueller et al. (ApJ 761:72, 2012), who observed strong growth of the SASI while neutrino-driven convection was suppressed. In our 3D simulations, neutrino-driven convection grows from numerical perturbations imposed by our Cartesian grid. It becomes the dominant instability and leads to large-scale non-oscillatory deformations of the shock front. These will result in strongly aspherical explosions without the need for large-scale SASI shock oscillations. Low-l-mode SASI oscillations are present in our models, but saturate at small amplitudes that decrease with increasing neutrino heating and vigor of convection. Our results, in agreement with simpler 3D Newtonian simulations, suggest that once neutrino-driven convection is started, it is likely to become the dominant instability in 3D. Whether it is the primary instability after bounce will ultimately depend on the physical seed perturbations present in the cores of massive stars. The gravitational wave signal, which we extract and analyze for the first time from 3D general-relativistic models, will serve as an observational probe of the postbounce dynamics and, in combination with neutrinos, may allow us to determine the primary hydrodynamic instability.
Black hole (BH) accretion flows and jets are qualitatively affected by the presence of ordered magnetic fields. We study fully three-dimensional global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of radially extended and thick (height $H$ to cylindrical radius $R$ ratio of $|H/R|sim 0.2--1$) accretion flows around BHs with various dimensionless spins ($a/M$, with BH mass $M$) and with initially toroidally-dominated ($phi$-directed) and poloidally-dominated ($R-z$ directed) magnetic fields. Firstly, for toroidal field models and BHs with high enough $|a/M|$, coherent large-scale (i.e. $gg H$) dipolar poloidal magnetic flux patches emerge, thread the BH, and generate transient relativistic jets. Secondly, for poloidal field models, poloidal magnetic flux readily accretes through the disk from large radii and builds-up to a natural saturation point near the BH. For sufficiently high $|a/M|$ or low $|H/R|$ the polar magnetic field compresses the inflow into a geometrically thin highly non-axisymmetric magnetically choked accretion flow (MCAF) within which the standard linear magneto-rotational instability is suppressed. The condition of a highly-magnetized state over most of the horizon is optimal for the Blandford-Znajek mechanism that generates persistent relativistic jets with $gtrsim 100$% efficiency for $|a/M|gtrsim 0.9$. A magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz unstable magnetospheric interface forms between the compressed inflow and bulging jet magnetosphere, which drives a new jet-disk quasi-periodic oscillation (JD-QPO) mechanism. The high-frequency QPO has spherical harmonic $|m|=1$ mode period of $tausim 70GM/c^3$ for $a/Msim 0.9$ with coherence quality factors $Qgtrsim 10$. [abridged]
When an accretion disk falls prey to the runaway instability, a large portion of its mass is devoured by the black hole within a few dynamical times. Despite decades of effort, it is still unclear under what conditions such an instability can occur. The technically most advanced relativistic simulations to date were unable to find a clear sign for the onset of the instability. In this work, we present three-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of accretion disks around black holes in dynamical space-time. We focus on the configurations that are expected to be particularly prone to the development of this instability. We demonstrate, for the first time, that the fully self-consistent general relativistic evolution does indeed produce a runaway instability.
The recent formulation of the relativistic Thomas-Fermi model within the Feynman-Metropolis-Teller theory for compressed atoms is applied to the study of general relativistic white dwarf equilibrium configurations. The equation of state, which takes into account the beta-equilibrium, the nuclear and the Coulomb interactions between the nuclei and the surrounding electrons, is obtained as a function of the compression by considering each atom constrained in a Wigner-Seitz cell. The contribution of quantum statistics, weak, nuclear, and electromagnetic interactions is obtained by the determination of the chemical potential of the Wigner-Seitz cell. The further contribution of the general relativistic equilibrium of white dwarf matter is expressed by the simple formula $sqrt{g_{00}}mu_{rm ws}$= constant, which links the chemical potential of the Wigner-Seitz cell $mu_{rm ws}$ with the general relativistic gravitational potential $g_{00}$ at each point of the configuration. The configuration outside each Wigner-Seitz cell is strictly neutral and therefore no global electric field is necessary to warranty the equilibrium of the white dwarf. These equations modify the ones used by Chandrasekhar by taking into due account the Coulomb interaction between the nuclei and the electrons as well as inverse beta-decay. They also generalize the work of Salpeter by considering a unified self-consistent approach to the Coulomb interaction in each Wigner-Seitz cell. The consequences on the numerical value of the Chandrasekhar-Landau mass limit as well as on the mass-radius relation of $^4$He, $^{12}$C, $^{16}$O and $^{56}$Fe white dwarfs are presented. All these effects should be taken into account in processes requiring a precision knowledge of the white dwarf parameters.
An increase in the central density of a neutron star may trigger a phase transition from hadronic matter to deconfined quark matter in the core, causing it to collapse to a more compact hybrid-star configuration. We present a study of this, building on previous work by Lin et al. (2006). We follow them in considering a supersonic phase transition and using a simplified equation of state, but our calculations are general relativistic (using 2D simulations in the conformally flat approximation) as compared with their 3D Newtonian treatment. We also improved the treatment of the initial phase transformation, avoiding the introduction of artificial convection. As before, we find that the emitted gravitational-wave spectrum is dominated by the fundamental quasi-radial and quadrupolar pulsation modes but the strain amplitudes are much smaller than suggested previously, which is disappointing for the detection prospects. However, we see significantly smaller damping and observe a nonlinear mode resonance which substantially enhances the emission in some cases. We explain the damping mechanisms operating, giving a different view from the previous work. Finally, we discuss the detectability of the gravitational waves, showing that the signal-to-noise ratio for current or second generation interferometers could be high enough to detect such events in our Galaxy, although third generation detectors would be needed to observe them out to the Virgo cluster, which would be necessary for having a reasonable event rate.