Rotating BHs as Central Engines of Long GRBs: Faster is Better

TL;DR

Simulations show that rapidly rotating black holes produce more energetic jets in collapsars, supporting the idea that faster black hole spin enhances gamma-ray burst luminosity and jet power.

Contribution

This study demonstrates the direct correlation between black hole spin and jet energy in collapsar simulations, highlighting the importance of rotation in GRB central engines.

Findings

Higher black hole spin results in more energetic jets.

No jets are produced by non-rotating black holes.

Electromagnetic energy dominates over rest-mass energy in jets.

Abstract

We performed simulations of collapsars with different Kerr parameters a=0, 0.5, 0.9, 0.95. It is shown that a more rapidly rotating black hole is driving a more energetic jet. No jet is seen for the case of Schwartzschild black hole case, while the total energy of the jet is as large as 10^50 erg for a rapidly rotating Kerr black hole case (a=0.95). In order to explain the high luminosity of a GRB, it is concluded that a rapidly rotating black hole is favored ('faster is better'). We also find in the case of a=0.95 that (i) the stagnation region is clearly found in the jet region, (ii) the ordered poloidal field lines are seen in the jet, (iii) the jet region is surrounded by a 'Wall-like' structure that has a higher pressure than the jet region and contains strong vertical magnetic fields, and (iv) the jet is initiated by outgoing Poynting flux from the outer horizon of the black hole (Blandford-Znajek effect). The bulk Lorentz factor of the jet is still of the order of unity. However, energy density of electro-magnetic fields dominates the one of rest-mass in the jet. It can be expected that a relativistic jet will be seen if we perform a simulation for a longer time scale (of the order of 10-100 sec).