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Abstract:
A set of eight self-consistent, time-dependent supernova (SN) simulations in three spatial dimensions (3D) for 9 and 20 M ⊙ progenitors is evaluated for the presence of dipolar asymmetries of the electron lepton-number emission as discovered by Tamborra et al. and termed lepton-number emission self-sustained asymmetry (LESA). The simulations were performed with the Aenus–Alcar neutrino/hydrodynamics code, which treats the energy- and velocity-dependent transport of neutrinos of all flavors by a two-moment scheme with algebraic M1 closure. For each of the progenitors, results with fully multidimensional (FMD) neutrino transport and with ray-by-ray-plus (RbR+) approximation are considered for two different grid resolutions. While the 9 M ⊙ models develop explosions, the 20 M ⊙ progenitor does not explode with the employed version of simplified neutrino opacities. In all 3D models we observe the growth of substantial dipole amplitudes of the lepton-number (electron neutrino minus antineutrino) flux with stable or slowly time-evolving direction and overall properties fully consistent with the LESA phenomenon. Models with RbR+ transport develop LESA dipoles somewhat faster and with temporarily higher amplitudes, but the FMD calculations exhibit cleaner hemispheric asymmetries with a far more dominant dipole. In contrast, the RbR+ results display much wider multipole spectra of the neutrino emission anisotropies with significant power also in the quadrupole and higher-order modes. Our results disprove speculations that LESA is a numerical artifact of RbR+ transport. We also discuss LESA as a consequence of a dipolar convection flow inside of the nascent neutron star and establish, tentatively, a connection to Chandrasekhar's linear theory of thermal instability in spherical shells.
