Gravitational collapse of a rotating iron stellar core: The limiting case of transparency to neutrino emission

A quasi-one-dimensional hydrodynamic model for the collapse of a rotating iron stellar core is used to determine the neutrino spectra in the limiting case of total transparency to neutrino emission (without any deposition effect). The derived spectra allow the previously constructed spectra used to theoretically estimate the number of events in the LSD underground neutrino detector from SN 1987A to be refined. At typical iron stellar core parameters, including those that characterize the core rotation specified in the initial conditions of the model, this number has turned out to be 1.6, which is close in order of magnitude to its experimental value of 5. Here, we compare in detail these results by assuming that the transparency of the collapsing iron core itself could be attributable to the development of its three-dimensional dynamical instability—the subject of future theoretical studies. The physical formulation of the problem coincides closely with the collapse model proposed in our previous paper, where the above number of events turned out to be 0.5. We have confirmed the previously published results with regard to the neutrino spectra, including the significant superiority of electron neutrinos over electron antineutrinos in them. The hydrostatically equilibrium configuration (a rotating collapsar) obtained in our model calculation is discussed in comparison with self-similar solutions that are close in physical formulation of the problem. This result seems a nontrivial consequence of the included rotation effects that hinder nonstop collapse established in the mentioned self-similar solutions.