Paper detail

GRB-supernovae: a new spin on gravitational waves

The discovery of the GRB-supernova association poses the question on the nature of the inner engine as the outcome of Type Ib/c supernovae. These events are believed to represent core-collapse of massive stars, probably in low-period stellar binaries and similar but not identical to the Type II event SN1987A. The branching ratio of Type Ib/c supernovae into GRB-supernovae has the remarkably small value of less than 0.5%. These observational constraints point towards a rapidly rotating black hole formed at low probability with low kick velocity. The putative black hole hereby remains centered, and matures into a high-mass object with large rotational energy in angular momentum. As the MeV-neutrino emissions from SN1987A demonstrate, the most powerful probe of the inner workings of core-collapse events are radiation channels to which the remnant envelope is optically thin. We here discuss the prospect of gravitational-wave emissions powered by a rapidly rotating central black hole which, in contrast to MeV-neutrinos, can be probed to distances as large as 100Mpc through upcoming gravitational-wave detectors LIGO and Virgo. We identify the GRB-emissions, commonly attributed to ultrarelativistic baryon-poor ejecta, with a new process of linear acceleration of charged particles along the axis of rotation of a black hole in response to spin-orbit coupling. We include some preliminary numerical simulations on internal shocks produced by intermittent ejecta. The results showing a radial splash, which points towards low-luminosity and lower-energy radiation at large angles, possibly related to X-ray flashes.