Revival of The Stalled Core-Collapse Supernova Shock Triggered by Precollapse Asphericity in the Progenitor Star

Sean M. Couch, Christian D. Ott

Published 2013-09-10, updated 2013-10-16Version 2

Multi-dimensional simulations of advanced nuclear burning stages of massive stars suggest that the Si/O layers of presupernova stars harbor large deviations from the spherical symmetry typically assumed for presupernova stellar structure. We carry out three-dimensional core-collapse supernova simulations with and without aspherical velocity perturbations to assess their potential impact on the supernova hydrodynamics in the stalled shock phase. Our results show that realistic perturbations can qualitatively alter the postbounce evolution, triggering an explosion in a model that fails to explode without them. This finding underlines the need for a multi-dimensional treatment of the presupernova stage of stellar evolution.