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Current status of relativistic core collapse simulations

José A Font

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With the first generation of ground-based gravitational wave laser interferometers already taking data, the availability of reliable waveform templates from astrophysical sources, which may help extract the signal from the anticipated noisy data, is urgently required. Gravitational stellar core collapse supernova has traditionally been considered among the most important astrophysical sources of potentially detectable gravitational radiation. Only very recently the first multidimensional simulations of relativistic rotational core collapse have been possible (albeit for models with simplified input physics), thanks to the use of conservative formulations of the hydrodynamics equations and advanced numerical methodology, as well as stable formulations of Einstein's equations. In this paper, the current status of relativistic core collapse simulations is discussed, with the emphasis given to the modelling of the collapse dynamics and to the computation of the gravitational radiation in the existing numerical approaches. Work employing the conformally-flat approximation (CFC) of the 3+1 Einstein's equations is reported, as well as extensions of this approximation (CFC+) and investigations within the framework of the so-called BSSN formulation of the 3+1 gravitational field equations (with no approximation for the spacetime dynamics). On the other hand, the incorporation of magnetic fields and the MHD equations in numerical codes to improve the realism of core collapse simulations in general relativity, is currently an emerging field where significant progress is bound to be soon achieved. The paper also contains a brief discussion of magneto-rotational simulations of core collapse, aiming at addressing the effects of magnetic fields on the collapse dynamics and on the gravitational waveforms.


PACS

97.60.Bw Supernovae

95.30.Qd Magnetohydrodynamics and plasmas

04.30.Db Wave generation and sources

04.80.Nn Gravitational wave detectors and experiments

04.20.Jb Exact solutions

95.30.Sf Relativity and gravitation

Subjects

Plasma physics

Gravitation and cosmology

Astrophysics and astroparticles

Dates

Issue 1 (2007)



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