The potential role of spatial dimension in the neutrino-driving mechanism of core-collapse supernova explosions

We have hydrodynamically explored the dependence on spatial dimension of the viability of the neutrino heating mechanism of core-collapse supernova explosions and find that the tendency to explode is a monotonically increasing function of dimension. Moreover, we find that the delay to explosion for a given neutrino luminosity is always shorter in 3D than 2D, sometimes by many hundreds of milliseconds. The magnitude of this dimensional effect is much larger than the purported magnitude of a variety of other effects sometimes invoked to bridge the gap between the current ambiguous and uncertain theoretical situation and the fact of robust supernova explosions in Nature. Our finding, facilitated by access to state-of-the-art codes and large computers, may be an important step towards unraveling one of the most problematic puzzles in stellar astrophysics. (C) 2010 Elsevier By. All rights reserved.