Eric J. Lentz, Anthony Mezzacappa, O. E. Bronson Messer, Matthias Liebendörfer, W. Raphael Hix, Stephen W. Bruenn
We have conducted a series of numerical experiments with the spherically
symmetric, general relativistic, neutrino radiation hydrodynamics code
Agile-BOLTZTRAN to examine the effects of several approximations used in
multidimensional core-collapse supernova simulations. Our code permits us to
examine the effects of these approximations quantitatively by removing, or
substituting for, the pieces of supernova physics of interest. These
approximations include: (1) using Newtonian versus general relativistic
gravity, hydrodynamics, and transport; (2) using a reduced set of weak
interactions, including the omission of non-isoenergetic neutrino scattering,
versus the current state-of-the-art; and (3) omitting the velocity-dependent
terms, or observer corrections, from the neutrino Boltzmann kinetic equation.
We demonstrate that each of these changes has noticeable effects on the
outcomes of our simulations. Of these, we find that the omission of observer
corrections is particularly detrimental to the potential for neutrino-driven
explosions and exhibits a failure to conserve lepton number. Finally, we
discuss the impact of these results on our understanding of current, and the
requirements for future, multidimensional models.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.3595
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