AST 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: The Strongest, Momentum, Electric Generator
Document Summary
Recall the core collapse in type ii sne. As the core has no thermal pressure support, it collapses catastrophically, in a fraction of a second, and reaches temperatures of a billion kelvin or so. This is hot enough to photodissociate the heavy elements in the core. The density becomes high enough to drive the reaction. Because neutrinos react so little with normal matter, the production of neutrinos through this reaction provides a way to cool the core, and this accelerates the core-collapse. When the core reaches nuclear density, the collapse is halted by neutron degeneracy pressure. Thus, such a remnant is called a neutron star. When the core reaches this state, it is about 10-20 miles in diameter. So, one firm prediction of our model for core-collapse supernovae is that they should be accompanied by a burst of neutrino emission. As i noted a few weeks back, neutrinos are very difficult to detect.
