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Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, astro-ph.HE, Astrophysics, Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, astro-ph.SR
Abstract:
We conduct a series of numerical experiments into the nature of
three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamics in the postbounce stalled-shock phase of
core-collapse supernovae using 3D general-relativistic hydrodynamic simulations
of a $27$-$M_\odot$ progenitor star with a neutrino leakage/heating scheme. We
vary the strength of neutrino heating and find three cases of 3D dynamics: (1)
neutrino-driven convection, (2) initially neutrino-driven convection and
subsequent development of the standing accretion shock instability (SASI), (3)
SASI dominated evolution. This confirms previous 3D results of Hanke et al.
2013, ApJ 770, 66 and Couch & Connor 2014, ApJ 785, 123. We carry out
simulations with resolutions differing by up to a factor of $\sim$4 and
demonstrate that low resolution is artificially favorable for explosion in the
3D convection-dominated case, since it decreases the efficiency of energy
transport to small scales. Low resolution results in higher radial convective
fluxes of energy and enthalpy, more fully buoyant mass, and stronger neutrino
heating. In the SASI-dominated case, lower resolution damps SASI oscillations.
In the convection-dominated case, a quasi-stationary angular kinetic energy
spectrum $E(\ell)$ develops in the heating layer. Like other 3D studies, we
find $E(\ell) \propto \ell^{-1}$ in the "inertial range," while theory and
local simulations argue for $E(\ell) \propto \ell^{-5/3}$. We argue that
current 3D simulations do not resolve the inertial range of turbulence and are
affected by numerical viscosity up to the energy containing scale, creating a
"bottleneck" that prevents an efficient turbulent cascade.