A full general relativistic neutrino radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of a collapsing very massive star and the formation of a black hole

TL;DR

This study presents a comprehensive 3D general relativistic simulation of a 70 solar mass star's core-collapse, neutrino transport, and black hole formation, revealing earlier BH formation than previously observed.

Contribution

First 3D GR simulation with multi-energy neutrino transport demonstrating fallback black hole formation in a very massive star.

Findings

Black hole forms at ~300 ms post-bounce.

Neutrino heating revives the shock before BH formation.

Early BH formation occurs significantly sooner than in lower-mass progenitors.

Abstract

We study the final fate of a very massive star by performing full general relativistic (GR), three-dimensional (3D) simulation with three-flavor multi-energy neutrino transport. Utilizing a 70 solar mass zero metallicity progenitor, we self-consistently follow the radiation-hydrodynamics from the onset of gravitational core-collapse until the second collapse of the proto-neutron star (PNS), leading to black hole (BH) formation. Our results show that the BH formation occurs at a post-bounce time of ~300 ms for the 70 Msun star. This is significantly earlier than those in the literature where lower mass progenitors were employed. At a few ~10 ms before BH formation, we find that the stalled bounce shock is revived by intense neutrino heating from the very hot PNS, which is aided by violent convection behind the shock. In the context of 3D-GR core-collapse modeling with multi-energy neutrino transport, our numerical results present the first evidence to validate a fallback BH formation scenario of the 70 Msun star.