Fast Transients from Magnetic Disks around Nonspinning Collapsar Black Holes

Abstract Most black holes (BHs) formed in collapsing stars have low spin, though some are expected to acquire a magnetic accretion disk during the collapse. While such BH disks can launch magnetically driven winds, their physics and observational signatures have remained unexplored. We present global 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of collapsing stars that form slowly spinning BHs with accretion disks. As the disk transitions to a magnetically arrested state, it drives mildly relativistic, wobbling, collimated magnetic outflows through two mechanisms: steady outflows along vertical magnetic field lines (“Blandford–Payne jets”) and magnetic flux eruptions. With isotropic-equivalent energy of E iso ≈ 10 52 erg, exceeding that of relativistic jets from BHs with spin a ≲ 0.25, the disk outflows unbind the star, ultimately capping the final BH mass at M BH ≈ 4 M ⊙ . Once the outflows emerge from the star, they produce mildly relativistic shock breakout and cooling emission. Our cooling emission estimates suggest a bright near-ultraviolet and optical signal at absolute magnitude M AB ≈ −16 lasting for several days. This indicates that disk winds could be responsible for the first peak in the double-peaked light curves observed in Type Ib/c supernovae (SNe) or power another class of transients. The detection rate in the upcoming Rubin Observatory and ULTRASAT/UVEX will enable us to differentiate between competing models for the origin of the first SN peak and provide constraints on the physics and formation rate of accretion disks in core-collapse SNe.