Core Collapse Supernova Gravitational Wave Signature Predictions based on 3D Ab Initio Models with Increasing GR Realism

The death of massive stars in core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) is directly or indirectly responsible for the largest share of the elements in the Periodic Table. CCSNe involve extremes in density and other quantities. Newtonian gravity is insufficient to describe such extremes. Einsteinian gravity is needed. This project advance the treatment of gravity in supernova models from a Newtonian treatment with a correction to account for some Einsteinian effects, to a far more sophisticated treatment of Einsteinian gravity, thereby advancing the realism of CCSNe models significantly. As such, researchers will be better positioned to predict gravitational wave (GW), a ripple in the fabric of space-time, emission in CCSNe, among the sources that produce GWs detectable by LIGO. This project will support the training of a graduate student in supernova theory and will provide (i) a bridge between the supernova modeling community and the LSC via the Supernova Multi-messenger Consortium, (ii) organized lectures on relativity as part of a Physics Academy at a local, diverse public high school, and (iii) public lectures on relativity and supernovae.

Advanced multi-physics models of core collapse supernovae (CCSNe), which include multi-frequency neutrino transport with a complete set of neutrino interactions and relativistic corrections such as gravitational redshift, have implemented an effective gravitational potential given by the Newtonian potential (obtained by solving the Poisson equation) plus a correction to the monopole term (obtained from an integral formulation of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation using angle-averaged densities). More realistic models will require more realistic treatments of general relativistic gravity. This project will support the implementation of the Conformally Flat Approximation across all model components: gravity, hydrodynamics, and neutrino transport. The PI and his collaborators will compute the emission of gravitational waves (GWs) in the CCSN models and will work closely with members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration to optimize GW predictions for their use.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.