No Arabic abstract
We develop a neutrino transfer code for core-collapse simulations, that directly solves the multidimensional Boltzmann equations in full general relativity. We employ the discrete ordinate method, which discretizes the six dimensional phase space. The code is an extension of our special relativistic code coupled to a Newtonian hydrodynamics code, which is currently employed for core-collapse supernova simulations. In order to demonstrate our codes capability to treat general relativistic effects, we conduct some tests: we first compute the free streaming of neutrinos in the Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes and compare the results with the geodesic curves; in the Schwarzschild case we deploy not only a 1-dimensional grid in space under spherical symmetry but also a 2-dimensional spatial mesh under axisymmetry in order to assess the capability of the code to compute the spatial advection of neutrinos; secondly, we calculate the neutrino transport in a fixed matter background, which is taken from a core-collapse supernova simulation with our general relativistic but spherically symmetric Boltzmann-hydrodynamics code, to obtain a steady neutrino distribution; the results are compared with those given by the latter code.
We report on the core-collapse supernova simulation we conducted for a 11.2 M progenitor model in three-dimensional space up to 20 ms after bounce, using a radiation hydrodynamics code with full Boltzmann neutrino transport. We solve the six-dimensional Boltzmann equations for three neutrino species and the three-dimensional compressible Euler equations with Furusawa and Togashis nuclear equation of state. We focus on the prompt convection at 10 ms after bounce and investigate how neutrinos are transported in the convective matter. We apply a new analysis based on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Eddington tensor and make a comparison between the Boltzmann transport results and the M1 closure approximation in the transition regime between the optically thick and thin limits. We visualize the eigenvalues and eigenvectors using an ellipsoid, in which each principal axis is parallel to one of the eigenvectors and has a length proportional to the corresponding eigenvalue. This approach enables us to understand the difference between the Eddington tensor derived directly from the Boltzmann simulation and the one given by the M1 prescription from a new perspective. We find that the longest principal axis of the ellipsoid is almost always nearly parallel to the energy flux in the M1 closure approximation whereas in the Boltzmann simulation it becomes perpendicular in some transition regions, where the mean free path is 0.1 times the radius. In three spatial dimensions, the convective motions make it difficult to predict where this happens and to possibly improve the closure relation there.
We present self-consistent general relativistic simulations of stellar core collapse, bounce, and postbounce evolution for 13, 15, and 20 solar mass progenitors in spherical symmetry. Our simulations implement three-flavor Boltzmann neutrino transport and standard nuclear physics. The results are compared to our corresponding simulations with Newtonian hydrodynamics and O(v/c) Boltzmann transport.
We present multi-dimensional core-collapse supernova simulations using the Isotropic Diffusion Source Approximation (IDSA) for the neutrino transport and a modified potential for general relativity in two different supernova codes: FLASH and ELEPHANT. Due to the complexity of the core-collapse supernova explosion mechanism, simulations require not only high-performance computers and the exploitation of GPUs, but also sophisticated approximations to capture the essential microphysics. We demonstrate that the IDSA is an elegant and efficient neutrino radiation transfer scheme, which is portable to multiple hydrodynamics codes and fast enough to investigate long-term evolutions in two and three dimensions. Simulations with a 40 solar mass progenitor are presented in both FLASH (1D and 2D) and ELEPHANT (3D) as an extreme test condition. It is found that the black hole formation time is delayed in multiple dimensions and we argue that the strong standing accretion shock instability before black hole formation will lead to strong gravitational waves.
Two-moment neutrino transport methods have been widely used for developing theoretical models of core-collapse supernova (CCSN), since they substantially reduce the computational burden inherent in the multi-dimensional neutrino-radiation hydrodynamical simulations. The approximation, however, comes at a price; the detailed structure of angular distribution of neutrinos is sacrificed, that is the main drawback of this approach. In this paper, we develop a novel method by which to construct angular distributions of neutrinos from the zero-th and first angular moments. In our method, the angular distribution is expressed with two quadratic functions of the neutrino angle in a piecewise fashion. We determine the best parameters in the fitting function by comparing to the neutrino data in a spherically symmetric CCSN model with full Boltzmann neutrino transport. We demonstrate the capability of our method by using our recent 2D CCSN model. We find that the essential features of the angular distributions can be well reconstructed, whereas the angular distributions of incoming neutrinos tend to have large errors that increase with flux factor ($kappa$). This issue originates from the insensitiveness of incoming neutrinos to $kappa$, that is an intrinsic limitation in moment methods. Based on the results of the demonstration, we assess the reliability of ELN-crossing searches with two-moment neutrino transport. This analysis is complementary to our another paper that scrutinizes the limitation of crossing searches with a few moments. We find that the systematic errors of angular distributions for incoming neutrinos lead to misjudgements of the crossing at $kappa gtrsim 0.5$. This casts doubt on the results of ELN-crossing searches based on two-moment methods in some previous studies.
With the Boltzmann-radiation-hydrodynamics code, which we have developed to solve numerically the Boltzmann equations for neutrino transfer, the Newtonian hydrodynamics equations, and the Newtonian self-gravity simultaneously and consistently, we simulate the collapse of a rotating core of the progenitor with a zero-age-main-sequence mass of $11.2,M_odot$ and a shelluler rotation of $1,{rm rad,s^{-1}}$ at the center. We pay particular attention in this paper to the neutrino distribution in phase space, which is affected by the rotation. By solving the Boltzmann equations directly, we can assess the rotation-induced distortion of the angular distribution in momentum space, which gives rise to the rotational component of the neutrino flux. We compare the Eddington tensors calculated both from the raw data and from the M1-closure approximation. We demonstrate that the Eddington tensor is determined by complicated interplays of the fluid velocity and the neutrino interactions and that the M1-closure, which assumes that the Eddington factor is determined by the flux factor, fails to fully capture this aspect, especially in the vicinity of the shock. We find that the error in the Eddington factor reaches $sim 20%$ in our simulation. This is due not to the resolution but to the different dependence of the Eddington and flux factors on the angular profile of the neutrino distribution function, and hence modification to the closure relation is needed.