A Convective Trigger for Supernova Explosions

Abstract

The shock wave that stalls within ∼10 ms of its creation during the collapse and bounce of the core of a massive star leaves behind it unstable lepton and entropy profiles that can drive a violent Rayleigh-Taylor-like overturn. Coupling two-dimensional hydrodynamics with independent one-dimensional neutrino transport in 100 angular bins, we demonstrate the possible existence of a convective boost in the neutrino luminosities that can ignite a supernova explosion. While the shock-imposed negative entropy gradient drives the early convection, neutrino heat transfer can smooth it within 15 ms. However, the negative lepton gradient, generically created at shock break-out, is not smoothed and is reponsible for vigorous mantle overturn just interior to the early entropy spike