Nonlinear Saturation of g-modes in Proto-Neutron Stars: Quieting the Acoustic Engine

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nonlinear damping of g-modes in proto-neutron stars and finds that parametric instability limits their energy, suggesting acoustic mechanisms are unlikely to power supernova explosions.

Contribution

It introduces a calculation of nonlinear mode coupling that shows the primary g-mode saturates at low energy, challenging the acoustic explosion hypothesis.

Findings

Primary g-mode energy saturates at ~10^{48} ergs

Parametric instability limits mode energy below explosion threshold

Acoustic power unlikely to drive supernova explosions

Abstract

According to Burrows et al.'s acoustic mechanism for core-collapse supernova explosions, the primary, l=1, g-mode in the core of the proto-neutron star is excited to an energy of ~ 10^{50} ergs and damps by the emission of sound waves. Here we calculate the damping of the primary mode by the parametric instability, i.e., by nonlinear, 3-mode coupling between the low-order primary mode and pairs of high-order g-modes. We show that the primary mode is strongly coupled to highly resonant, neutrino damped pairs with n>10; such short wavelength interactions cannot be resolved in the simulations. We find that the parametric instability saturates the primary mode energy at ~10^{48} ergs, well below the energy needed to drive an explosion. We therefore conclude that acoustic power is unlikely to be energetically significant in core-collapse supernova explosions.