Simulating the magnetorotational collapse of supermassive stars: Incorporating gas pressure perturbations and different rotation profiles

Citations Over TimeTop 16% of 2018 papers

Abstract

Collapsing supermassive stars (SMSs) with masses M ≳ 104-6 M _⊙ have long been speculated to be the seeds that can grow and become supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We previously performed general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of marginally stable Γ = 4/3 polytropes uniformly rotating at the mass-shedding limit and endowed initially with a dynamically unimportant dipole magnetic field to model the direct collapse of SMSs. These configurations are supported entirely by thermal radiation pressure and reliably model SMSs with M ≳ 106 M _⊙. We found that around 90% of the initial stellar mass forms a spinning black hole (BH) remnant surrounded by a massive, hot, magnetized torus, which eventually launches a magnetically-driven jet. SMSs could be therefore sources of ultra-long gamma-ray bursts (ULGRBs). Here we perform GRMHD simulations of Γ ≳ 4/3, polytropes to account for the perturbative role of gas pressure in SMSs with M ≲ 106 M _⊙. We also consider different initial stellar rotation profiles. The stars are initially seeded with a dynamically weak dipole magnetic field that is either confined to the stellar interior or extended from its interior into the stellar exterior. We calculate the gravitational wave burst signal for the different cases. We find that the mass of the black hole remnant is 90%-99% of the initial stellar mass, depending sharply on Γ - 4/3 as well as on the initial stellar rotation profile. After t ~ 250-550M ≈ 1 - 2 × 103(M/106 M _⊙) s following the appearance of the BH horizon, an incipient jet is launched and it lasts for ~104-105(M/106 M _⊙) s, consistent with the duration of long gamma-ray bursts. Our numerical results suggest that the Blandford-Znajek mechanism powers the incipient jet. They are also in rough agreement with our recently proposed universal model that estimates accretion rates and electromagnetic (Poynting) luminosities that characterize magnetized BH-disk remnant systems that launch a jet. This model helps explain why the outgoing electromagnetic luminosities computed for vastly different BH-disk formation scenarios all reside within a narrow range (~1052±1 erg s-1), roughly independent of M.

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