72 research outputs found
Critical Conditions for Core-Collapse Supernovae
The explosion of a core-collapse supernova can be approximated by the
breakdown of steady-state solutions for accretion onto a proto-neutron star
(PNS). We analytically show that as the neutrino luminosity exceeds a critical
value L_c, the neutrinosphere pressure exceeds the hydrostatic limit even for
an optimal shock radius R. This yields L_c \propto M^2 T^2 (with logarithmic
corrections) and R \propto M/T, in agreement with numerical results, where M, T
are the PNS mass, neutrino temperature. The near-critical flow can be
approximated as a ballistic shell on top of an isothermal layer.Comment: PRL accepte
Detection of polarized Fermi-bubble synchrotron and dust emission
The elusive polarized microwave signal from the Fermi bubbles is disentangled
from the more extended polarized lobes, which similarly emanate from the
Galactic plane but stretch farther west of the bubbles. The ~20% synchrotron
polarization reveals magnetic fields preferentially parallel to the bubble
edges, as expected downstream of a strong shock. The ~20% polarization of
thermal dust emission is similarly oriented, constraining grain alignment in an
extreme environment. We argue that the larger lobes arise from an older
Galactic-center, likely supermassive black-hole, outburst.Comment: 6 pages with 3 figure
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