Published July 2005 | Version v1
Journal article

GRB-supernovae: A new spin on gravitational waves

  • 1. MIT-LIGO Project, Cambridge (United States)

Description

The discovery of the GRB-supernova association poses the question on the nature of the inner engine as the outcome of Type Ib/c supernovae. These events are believed to represent core-collapse of massive stars, probably in low period stellar binaries and similar but not identical to the Type II event SN1987 A. The branching ratio of Type Ib/c supernovae into GRB-supernovae has the remarkably small value of less than 0.5%. These observational constraints point towards a rapidly rotating black hole formed at low probability with low kick velocity. The putative black hole hereby remains centered, and matures into a high-mass object with large rotational energy in angular momentum. As the MeV-neutrino emissions from SN1987 A demonstrate, the most powerful probe of the inner workings of core-collapse events are radiation channels to which the remnant envelope is optically thin. We here discuss the prospect of gravitational-wave emissions powered by a rapidly rotating central black hole which, in contrast to MeV-neutrinos, can be probed to distances as large as 100 Mpc through upcoming gravitational-wave detectors LIGO and Virgo. We identify the GRB-emissions, commonly attributed to ultrarelativistic baryon-poor ejecta, with a new process of linear acceleration of charged particles along the axis of rotation of a black hole in response to spin-orbit coupling. We include some preliminary numerical simulations on internal shocks produced by intermittent ejecta. The results showing a radial splash, which points towards low-luminosity and lower-energy radiation at large angles, possibly related to X-far flashes

Availability note (English)

Also avalaible from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1393/ncc/i2005-10111-8

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Nuovo Cimento della Societa Italiana di Fisica. C, Geophysics and Space Physics
Journal Volume
28C
Journal Issue
4-5
Journal Page Range
p. 597-606
ISSN
1124-1896