The First Second of a Type-II Supernova: Convection, Accretion, and Shock Propagation

Abstract

One- and two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of neutrino-driven supernova explosions are discussed. The simulations cover the phase between the stagnation of the prompt shock and about one second after core bounce. Systematic variation of the neutrino fluxes from the neutrino sphere shows that the explosion energy, explosion time scale, initial mass of the protoneutron star, and explosive nucleosynthesis of iron-group elements depend sensitively on the strength of the neutrino heating during the first few 100 ms after shock formation. Convective overturn in the neutrino-heated region behind the shock is a crucial help for the explosion only in a narrow window of neutrino luminosities. Here powerful explosions can be obtained only in the multi-dimensional case. For higher core-neutrino fluxes also spherically symmetrical models yield energetic explosions, while for lower luminosities even with convection no strong explosions occur.