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F. D. Swesty, E. S. Myra (SUNY Stony Brook)
We present results of 2-D simulations of convective instabilities in proto-neutron stars in the immediate aftermath of stellar core collapse. The capture of electrons by protons during collapse and the subsequent post-bounce deleptonization sets up a strong gradient in the electron fraction near the proto-neutron star surface. The formation of a strong shock at the outer edge of the homologous core gives rise to a strong entropy gradient. Depending on the precise nature of these gradients, and the equation of state, there are several possible instabilities that can arise in the outer layers of the proto-neutron star. In this poster, we describe the results of our 2-D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the proto-neutron star. These simulations have revealed previously unseen beahvior, including stratified convection in the proto-neutron star and a rapid one-time deloptonization burst. We find that, in our models, vigorous proto-neutron star convection does not persist after destabilizing gradients have been eradicated.
This work was performed at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as part of the TeraScale Supernova Initiative, and is funded by SciDAC grant DE-FC02-01ER41185 from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Science High-Energy, Nuclear, and Advanced Scientific Computing Research Programs. We gratefully acknowledge support of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) for computational and consulting support.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dswesty@mail.astro.sunysb.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.