Unveiling the Central Engine of Core-collapse Supernovae in the Local Universe: Neutron Star or Black Hole?

Abstract The physical trigger powering supernovae following the core collapse of massive stars is believed to involve a neutron star (NS) or a black hole (BH), depending largely on progenitor mass. A potentially distinct signature is long-duration gravitational-wave (GW) bursts from BH central engines by their ample energy reservoir E J in angular momentum, far more so than an NS can provide. A natural catalyst for this radiation is surrounding high-density matter in the form of a nonaxisymmetric disk or torus. Here, we derive a detailed prospect on LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA probes of core-collapse supernovae during the present observational run O4 based on their event rate, an association with normal long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and mass scaling of GW170817B/GRB170817A. For BH central engines of mass M , GW170817B predicts a descending GW chirp of energy <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi class="MJX-tex-calligraphic" mathvariant="script">E</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="italic">GW</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mo>≃</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3.5</mml:mn> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>c</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mfenced close=")" open="("> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:mfenced> </mml:math> at frequency <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>f</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="italic">GW</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>≲</mml:mo> <mml:mn>700</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mi>Hz</mml:mi> <mml:mfenced close=")" open="("> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:mfenced> </mml:math> , where M 0 ≃ 2.8 M ⊙ . For a few tens of events per year well into the Local Universe within 50–100 Mpc, probes at the detector-limited sensitivity are expected to break the degeneracy between their NS or BH central engines by GW calorimetry.