Theoretical support for the hydrodynamic mechanism of pulsar kicks

J. Nordhaus, T. D. Brandt, A. Burrows, E. Livne, and C. D. Ott
Phys. Rev. D 82, 103016 – Published 30 November 2010

Abstract

The collapse of a massive star’s core, followed by a neutrino-driven, asymmetric supernova explosion, can naturally lead to pulsar recoils and neutron star kicks. Here, we present a two-dimensional, radiation-hydrodynamic simulation in which core collapse leads to significant acceleration of a fully formed, nascent neutron star via an induced, neutrino-driven explosion. During the explosion, an 10% anisotropy in the low-mass, high-velocity ejecta leads to recoil of the high-mass neutron star. At the end of our simulation, the neutron star has achieved a velocity of 150kms1 and is accelerating at 350kms2, but has yet to reach the ballistic regime. The recoil is due almost entirely to hydrodynamical processes, with anisotropic neutrino emission contributing less than 2% to the overall kick magnitude. Since the observed distribution of neutron star kick velocities peaks at 300400kms1, recoil due to anisotropic core-collapse supernovae provides a natural, nonexotic mechanism with which to obtain neutron star kicks.

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  • Received 4 October 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.82.103016

© 2010 The American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

J. Nordhaus1,*, T. D. Brandt1,†, A. Burrows1,‡, E. Livne2,§, and C. D. Ott3,∥

  • 1Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 2Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
  • 3Theoretical Astrophysics, Mail Code 350-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 USA

  • *nordhaus@astro.princeton.edu
  • tbrandt@astro.princeton.edu
  • burrows@astro.princeton.edu
  • §livne@phys.huji.ac.il
  • cott@tapir.caltech.edu

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Issue

Vol. 82, Iss. 10 — 15 November 2010

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