The formation of a black hole opens up an entirely new set of physics in the stellar collapse. Material
continues to accrete onto the black hole after its formation. The angular momentum of material in a star
tends to increase with increasing radius of the star (Figure 9). For rapidly-rotating stars, the angular
momentum of the accreting material will ultimately be sufficiently high to hang up in a disk.
Astronomers have argued that energy generation in this accretion disk (either through magnetic
field generation or neutrino emission) may drive Gamma-Ray Bursts [242, 189, 244, 250
].
As we shall see below, these black hole accretion disks also open up new possibilities for GW
emission.
The evolution of a massive star collapse begins identically to lesser mass stars.
In general, it is likely that the core bounces just as in normal core-collapse
supernovae [90, 97, 296, 295].10
The bounce shock stalls as in normal supernovae. The primary exception are the low metallicity
(
) stars in the
range that produce pair-instability supernovae [114
]. These stars
explode completely leaving no remnant behind. We will ignore these stars in the rest of our
discussion.
These massive stars are much less likely to revive the stalled shock. Although the region above the proto
neutron star is convective, the convective engine is unable to quickly drive an explosion (recall Section 3.1).
In such cases, low-mode instabilities (e.g., SASI, see Section 3.1.2) are more likely to dominate
the convection. If the shock is revived at all, the explosion is weaker than normal supernovae.
Considerable material begins to fall back within 1 – 2 s of the explosion with accretion rates nearly at
[190, 347, 100
]. This accretion may lead to additional convection and possible further
outbursts [105, 100]. With both the SASI and the accretion convection, these stars are likely to
have more asymmetric convection than normal core-collapse supernovae (beneficial for GW
emission).
Ultimately, the mass accretion causes the proto neutron star to collapse down to a black hole [55, 54]. After the collapse, a disk forms around the black hole if the star’s angular momentum is sufficiently high. Magnetic dynamos in the disk, or neutrino emission, might lead to an additional explosion. Indeed, this is the mechanism behind the collapsar GRB [219, 333].
Massive stars might avoid the collapse to a black hole if strong magnetar-like fields can be produced in
the dense environment produced when the above engine fails [35, 175, 2, 3, 6, 329].
The rate of massive star collapse can be determined by the same method used to determine the normal
supernova rate: multiplying the star formation rate times the fraction of stars above . The
uncertainties in such a calculation lie in determining the lower limit for black hole formation (determined by
theory, and bolstered by observations), the power in the initial mass function and the star formation rate
(both beyond theory at this point). As with core collapse, the latter two quantities dominate the errors in
this rate estimate. Fryer & Kalogera [109] argue that between 10 – 40% of all massive stars above
(those that are likely to form bright core-collapse supernovae and contribute to the observed
supernova rate) form black holes. This answer depends primarily on their prescription for winds and
the initial mass function. The fraction is likely to be lower at low-redshift but increase with
increasing redshift as winds remove less mass from the star, allowing more stars to form black
holes.
Unfortunately, there are no direct observational estimates for the black-hole–formation rate. If we assume this collapse is the primary scenario for the production of long-duration GRBs we can estimate a lower limit for the black-hole–formation rate (and estimate the formation rate of fast-rotating systems). This value is roughly 0.1 – 0.01% the total core-collapse supernova rate.
For most massive stars, the GW signal will be similar to normal core-collapse supernovae. Massive stars
above are likely to have much stronger signals than normal core-collapse supernovae, but they will
only occur at high redshift.
Bounce: For the lower-mass range of these stars, the signal is unlikely to be demonstrably different than normal core-collapse supernovae.
Post-Bounce and Convection: Because the convective phase in these massive stars persists longer
than normal supernovae, it can develop strong low-mode activity. Such convective cycles produce the
strongest GWs, so we might expect stronger GWs from this convective phase for massive stars than for any
other stellar collapse scenario. Fryer et al. [115] also found that bar instabilities could develop in
stars.
Black Hole Formation: The initial black-hole formation and the subsequent accretion leads to a perturbed geometry of the black hole, initially distorting it. This distortion causes the hole to “ring” in distinct harmonics as gravitational radiation removes the perturbation and the black hole settles into a stationary Kerr state.
Disk Fragmentation: Depending upon the angular momentum profile, the mass in the disk can be large enough that self-gravity can drive instabilities and induce fragmentation.
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2011-1 |
Living Rev. Relativity 14, (2011), 1
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