General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Collapsars: Rotating Black Hole Cases

Abstract

We have performed 2.5-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of collapsars including a rotating black hole. This paper is an extension of our previous paper. The current calculation focuses on the effect of black hole rotation using general relativistic MHD with simplified microphysics; i.e., we ignore neutrino cooling, physical equation of state, and photodisintegration. Initially, we assume that the core collapse has failed in this star. A rotating black hole of a few solar masses is inserted by hand into the calculation. We consider two cases, a corotating case and a counterrotating case with respect to the black hole rotation. Although the counterrotating case may be unrealistic for collapsars, we perform it as the maximally dragging case of a magnetic field. The simulation results show the formation of a disklike structure and the generation of a jetlike outflow near the central black hole. The jetlike outflow propagates outwardly with the twisted magnetic field and becomes collimated. We have found that the jets are generated and accelerated mainly by the magnetic field. The total jet velocity in the rotating black hole case is comparable to that of the nonrotating black hole case, ~0.3c. When the rotation of the black hole is faster, the magnetic field is twisted strongly owing to the frame-dragging effect. The magnetic energy stored by the twisting magnetic field is directly converted to kinetic energy of the jet rather than propagating as an Alfven wave. Thus, as the rotation of the black hole becomes faster, the poloidal velocity of the jet becomes faster. In the rapidly rotating black hole case the jetlike outflow can be produced by the frame-dragging effect only through twisting of the magnetic field, even if there is no stellar rotation.