The impact of vorticity waves on the shock dynamics in core-collapse supernovae

TL;DR

This paper investigates how vorticity waves from nuclear shell burning influence shock behavior in core-collapse supernovae, revealing their significant role in turbulence and explosion conditions through linear hydrodynamics analysis.

Contribution

It provides a linear hydrodynamics analysis of vorticity wave effects on shock dynamics, highlighting their impact on turbulence and critical luminosity in supernovae.

Findings

Entropy perturbations from vorticity waves can drive turbulence in the gain region.

Reduction in critical luminosity by 17-24% due to vorticity wave effects.

Results align with 3D neutrino-hydrodynamics simulation outcomes.

Abstract

Convective perturbations arising from nuclear shell burning can play an important role in propelling neutrino-driven core-collapse supernova explosions. In this work, we analyze the impact of vorticity waves on the shock dynamics and the post-shock flow using the solution of the linear hydrodynamics equations. We show that the entropy perturbations generated by the interaction of the shock with vorticity waves may play a dominant role in generating buoyancy-driven turbulence in the gain region. We estimate that the resulting reduction in the critical luminosity is 17-24%, which approximately agrees with the results of three-dimensional neutrino-hydrodynamics simulations.