Core-collapse supernovae are, despite their spectacular visual display,
neutrino events. Virtually all of the 10^53 ergs of gravitational binding
energy released in the formation of the nascent neutron star is carried away in
the form of neutrinos and antineutrinos of all three flavors, and these
neutrinos are primarily responsible for powering the explosion. This mechanism
depends sensitively on the neutrino transport between the neutrinospheres and
the shock. In light of this, we have performed a comparison of multigroup
Boltzmann neutrino transport (MGBT) and multigroup flux-limited diffusion
(MGFLD) in post-core bounce environments. Differences in the mean inverse flux
factors, luminosities, and RMS energies translate to heating rates that are up
to 2 times larger for Boltzmann transport, with net cooling rates below the
gain radius that are typically 0.8 times the MGFLD rates. These differences are
greatest at earlier postbounce times for a given progenitor mass, and for a
given postbounce time, greater for greater progenitor mass. The increased
differences with increased progenitor mass suggest that the net heating
enhancement from MGBT is potentially robust and self-regulated.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; LaTex using iopconf.sty; To appear in:
Proceedings of The Second Oak Ridge Symposium on Atomic & Nuclear
Astrophysic