Three-Dimensional Simulations of Standing Accretion Shock Instability in Core-Collapse Supernovae

Abstract

We have studied non-axisymmetric standing accretion shock instability, or SASI, by 3D hydrodynamical simulations. This is an extention of our previous study on axisymmetric SASI. We have prepared a spherically symmetric and steady accretion flow through a standing shock wave onto a proto-neutron star, taking into account a realistic equation of state and neutrino heating and cooling. This unperturbed model is supposed to represent approximately the typical post-bounce phase of core-collapse supernovae. We then have added a small perturbation (~1%) to the radial velocity and computed the ensuing evolutions. Not only axisymmetric but non-axisymmetric perturbations have been also imposed. We have applied mode analysis to the non-spherical deformation of the shock surface, using the spherical harmonics. We have found that (1) the growth rates of SASI are degenerate with respect to the azimuthal index m of the spherical harmonics Y_l^m, just as expected for a spherically symmetric background, (2) nonlinear mode couplings produce only m=0 modes for the axisymmetric perturbations, whereas m=!0 modes are also generated in the non-axisymmetric cases according to the selection rule for the quadratic couplings, (3) the nonlinear saturation level of each mode is lower in general for 3D than for 2D because a larger number of modes are contributing to turbulence in 3D, (4) low l modes are dominant in the nonlinear phase, (5) the equi-partition is nearly established among different m modes in the nonlinear phase, (6) the spectra with respect to l obey power laws with a slope slightly steeper for 3D, and (7) although these features are common to the models with and without a shock revival at the end of simulation, the dominance of low l modes is more remarkable in the models with a shock revival.