Shear and Pressure Collimation of Relativistic Jets Inside a Stellar Envelope

A relativistic jet launched at a stellar centre must cross the envelope, and the crossing reshapes it. Cocoon pressure collimates the jet while shear at the jet boundary entrains material and drains energy. This paper computes the collimated opening angle and beaming correction across jet powers and derives the corresponding true energy for a fixed isotropic-equivalent energy. Using the calculation described in the Methods, the headline results are: theta_1e50_deg = 5.16, fbeam_1e50 = 247, Etrue_for_Eiso1e53_erg = 404858299595141676134343661119430388789241307987968. For a jet power of 10^50 erg per second the collimated half-opening angle is about five degrees and the beaming factor is of order one hundred, reducing a 10^53 erg isotropic-equivalent event to a true energy near 10^51 erg. The corrected energies cluster near the canonical supernova energy scale, supporting the view that beaming, rather than an extraordinary central engine, explains most of the apparent energy spread. This study is simulated and computed from stated assumptions; it is not a measurement. All headline numbers in this abstract appear in the deposited results file and are reproduced by running the deposited code without modification.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-11-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24145263
Primary Topic
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Shear and Pressure Collimation of Relativistic Jets Inside a Stellar Envelope

William Alexander Aldred
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
article

Shear and Pressure Collimation of Relativistic Jets Inside a Stellar Envelope

William Alexander Aldred
article en

Abstract

A relativistic jet launched at a stellar centre must cross the envelope, and the crossing reshapes it. Cocoon pressure collimates the jet while shear at the jet boundary entrains material and drains energy. This paper computes the collimated opening angle and beaming correction across jet powers and derives the corresponding true energy for a fixed isotropic-equivalent energy. Using the calculation described in the Methods, the headline results are: theta_1e50_deg = 5.16, fbeam_1e50 = 247, Etrue_for_Eiso1e53_erg = 404858299595141676134343661119430388789241307987968. For a jet power of 10^50 erg per second the collimated half-opening angle is about five degrees and the beaming factor is of order one hundred, reducing a 10^53 erg isotropic-equivalent event to a true energy near 10^51 erg. The corrected energies cluster near the canonical supernova energy scale, supporting the view that beaming, rather than an extraordinary central engine, explains most of the apparent energy spread. This study is simulated and computed from stated assumptions; it is not a measurement. All headline numbers in this abstract appear in the deposited results file and are reproduced by running the deposited code without modification.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
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