Axisymmetric General Relativistic Simulations of the Accretion-Induced Collapse of White Dwarfs

Ernazar Abdikamalov, Christian D. Ott, Luciano Rezzolla, Luc Dessart, Harald Dimmelmeier, A. Marek, and H.-T. Janka
Submitted to Phys. Rev. D., arXiv:0910.2703

- Gravitational Wave Signal Data -


Abstract
The accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of a white dwarf (WD) may lead to the formation of a protoneutron star and a collapse-driven supernova explosion. This process represents a path alternative to thermonuclear disruption of accreting white dwarfs in Type Ia supernovae. In the AIC scenario, the supernova explosion energy is expected to be small and the resulting transient short-lived, making it hard to detect by electromagnetic means alone. Neutrino and gravitational-wave (GW) observations may provide crucial information necessary to reveal a potential AIC. Motivated by the need for systematic predictions of the GW signature of AIC, we present results from an extensive set of general-relativistic AIC simulations using a microphysical finite-temperature equation of state and an approximate treatment of deleptonization during collapse. Investigating a set of 114 progenitor models in axisymmetric rotational equilibrium, with a wide range of rotational configurations, temperatures and central densities, and resulting white dwarf masses, we extend previous Newtonian studies and find that the GW signal has a generic shape akin to what is known as a ``Type~III'' signal in the literature. Despite this reduction to a single type of waveform, we show that the emitted GWs carry information that can be used to constrain the progenitor and the postbounce rotation. We discuss the detectability of the emitted GWs, showing that the signal-to-noise ratio for current or next-generation interferometer detectors could be high enough to detect such events in our Galaxy. Furthermore, we contrast the GW signals of AIC and rotating massive star iron core collapse and find that they can be distinguished, but only if the distance to the source is known and a detailed reconstruction of the GW time series from detector data is possible. Some of our AIC models form massive quasi-Keplerian accretion disks after bounce. The disk mass is very sensitive to progenitor mass and angular momentum distribution. In rapidly differentially rotating models whose precollapse masses are significantly larger than the Chandrasekhar mass, the resulting disk mass can be as large as ~0.8 solar masses. Slowly and/or uniformly rotating models that are limited to masses near the Chandrasekhar mass produce much smaller disks or no disk at all. Finally, we find that the postbounce cores of rapidly spinning white dwarfs can reach sufficiently rapid rotation to develop a gravito-rotational bar-mode instability. Moreover, many of our models exhibit sufficiently rapid and differential rotation to become subject to recently discovered low-E_rot/|W|-type dynamical instabilities.

Below we provide gravitational wave signature data for our model set discussed in this paper. For each model we compute and make available here the gravitational wave emissions from matter motions via the slow-motion, weak-field quadrupole approximation. Details on the extraction formalism can be found in the paper. We also provide the time evolution of the central density -- this quantity is useful to grahically determine the time of core bounce for a given model.

A recent review on the overall gravitational-wave signature of stellar collapse and collapse-driven supernovae can be found in Ott 2009.

All gravitational-wave data files are in gzipped plain text ASCII format with two columns: time (in seconds) and h_+ at an assumed source distance of 10 kpc and as seen by an equatorial observer. All central density data files are in gzipped plain text ASCII format with two columns: time (in seconds) and rho_c in g/cm^3.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments concerning the data provided here:

AIC ModelGW Data
time (s), h_+ (at 10 kpc)
Central Density
time (s), rho_c (g/cm^3)
Low-Temperature Models
AU0 download
AU1 download download
AU2 download download
AU3 download download
AU4 download download
AU5 download download
BU0 download
CU0 download
DU0 download
DU1 download download
DU2 download download
DU3 download download
DU4 download download
DU5 download download
DU6 download download
DU7 download download
DD1 download download
DD2 download download
DD3 download download
DD4 download download
DD5 download download
DD6 download download
DD7 download download
AD1 download download
AD2 download download
AD3 download download
AD4 download download
AD5 download download
AD6 download download
AD7 download download
AD8 download download
AD9 download download
AD10 download download
AD1f1 download download
AD1f2 download download
AD1f3 download download
AD1f4 download download
AD3f1 download download
AD3f2 download download
AD3f3 download download
AD3f4 download download
AD6f1 download download
AD6f2 download download
AD6f3 download download
AD6f4 download download
AD9f1 download download
AD9f2 download download
AD9f3 download download
AD9f4 download download
AD10f1 download download
AD10f2 download download
AD10f3 download download
AD10f4 download download
AD11f2 download download
AD12f3 download download
AD12f4 download download
AD13f4 download download
High-Temperature Models
AU0 download
AU1 download download
AU2 download download
AU3 download download
AU4 download download
AU5 download download
BU0 download
CU0 download
DU0 download
DU1 download download
DU2 download download
DU3 download download
DU4 download download
DU5 download download
DU6 download download
DU7 download download
DD1 download download
DD2 download download
DD3 download download
DD4 download download
DD5 download download
DD6 download download
DD7 download download
AD1 download download
AD2 download download
AD3 download download
AD4 download download
AD5 download download
AD6 download download
AD7 download download
AD8 download download
AD9 download download
AD10 download download
AD1f1 download download
AD1f2 download download
AD1f3 download download
AD1f4 download download
AD3f1 download download
AD3f2 download download
AD3f3 download download
AD3f4 download download
AD6f1 download download
AD6f2 download download
AD6f3 download download
AD6f4 download download
AD9f1 download download
AD9f2 download download
AD9f3 download download
AD9f4 download download
AD10f1 download download
AD10f2 download download
AD10f3 download download
AD10f4 download download
AD11f2 download download
AD12f3 download download
AD12f4 download download
AD13f4 download download
Download h_+ data for all models (warning: ca. 52 MB) Download rho_c data for all models (warning: ca. 210 MB)