Black Hole Supernovae Outcomes Across a Wide Progenitor Range

Abstract

Black hole supernovae (BHSNe), the term we use for core-collapse events in which black hole (BH) formation occurs after shock revival but before the explosion is complete, have emerged as a natural outcome of multidimensional simulations as these calculations have been extended to seconds after bounce. Yet they remain one of the least studied outcomes of core collapse. Here, we assess whether they are confined to the most compact and massive progenitors, whose birth rates are low, or whether they arise systematically across a wider range of progenitor structures. We perform 23 long-term axisymmetric core-collapse simulations of progenitors spanning 19.51–60 M ⊙ and compactnesses 0.31 ≲ ξ 2.5 ≲ 0.63. We find 18 BHSN outcomes across nearly the full ZAMS mass range considered, corresponding to progenitors with 0.40 ≲ ξ 2.5 ≲ 0.63. BH formation occurs between ∼0.7 s and ∼4.7 s after bounce. After BH formation, we continue the evolution with an excision treatment to at least 5000 s. The final explosion energies span ∼2 × 10 ⁴⁹ –3 × 10 ⁵¹ erg, while the final BH gravitational masses span ∼3–26 M ⊙ . We find a clear remnant-mass trend with CO-core mass, but show that the CO core alone is not an adequate proxy for the final BH mass, especially for progenitors at the low- and high-mass ends of the CO-core distribution. Except for the highest CO-core mass models, no single spherical mass coordinate cleanly separates ejecta from remnant material. Finally, a 2D axisymmetric and a 3D model are compared as we discuss differences between the two geometries.

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Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{andersen2026black,
  title = {{Black Hole Supernovae Outcomes Across a Wide Progenitor Range}},
  author = {Oliver Eggenberger Andersen and Evan O’Connor and Liubov Kovalenko and Haakon Andresen and Sean M. Couch},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa45},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa45},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Black Hole Supernovae Outcomes Across a Wide Progenitor Range
AU  - Oliver Eggenberger Andersen
AU  - Evan O’Connor
AU  - Liubov Kovalenko
AU  - Haakon Andresen
AU  - Sean M. Couch
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/27
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa45
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeaa45
AB  - Black hole supernovae (BHSNe), the term we use for core-collapse events in which black hole (BH) formation occurs after shock revival but before the explosion is complete, have emerged as a natural outcome of multidimensional simulations as these calculations have been extended to seconds after bounce. Yet they remain one of the least studied outcomes of core collapse. Here, we assess whether they are confined to the most compact and massive progenitors, whose birth rates are low, or whether they arise systematically across a wider range of progenitor structures. We perform 23 long-term axisymmetric core-collapse simulations of progenitors spanning 19.51–60 M ⊙ and compactnesses 0.31 ≲ ξ 2.5 ≲ 0.63. We find 18 BHSN outcomes across nearly the full ZAMS mass range considered, corresponding to progenitors with 0.40 ≲ ξ 2.5 ≲ 0.63. BH formation occurs between ∼0.7 s and ∼4.7 s after bounce. After BH formation, we continue the evolution with an excision treatment to at least 5000 s. The final explosion energies span ∼2 × 10 ⁴⁹ –3 × 10 ⁵¹ erg, while the final BH gravitational masses span ∼3–26 M ⊙ . We find a clear remnant-mass trend with CO-core mass, but show that the CO core alone is not an adequate proxy for the final BH mass, especially for progenitors at the low- and high-mass ends of the CO-core distribution. Except for the highest CO-core mass models, no single spherical mass coordinate cleanly separates ejecta from remnant material. Finally, a 2D axisymmetric and a 3D model are compared as we discuss differences between the two geometries.
SN  - 1538-4357
SN  - 0004-637X
ER  -

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