Gravitational waves as a probe of core collapse supernova progenitor structure

R. Daniel Murphy; Elle Brinkman; Colter J. Richardson; Evan Semenak; Anthony Mezzacappa; Pedro Marronetti; Eric J. Lentz; Stephen W. Bruenn

doi:10.1103/2bdz-783t

Gravitational waves as a probe of core collapse supernova progenitor structure

R. Daniel Murphy ^1,*, Elle Brinkman ¹, Colter J. Richardson ¹, Evan Semenak ¹, Anthony Mezzacappa ¹, Pedro Marronetti ², Eric J. Lentz ^1,3, and Stephen W. Bruenn⁴

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1200, USA
²Physics Division, National Science Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, USA
³Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6354, USA
⁴Department of Physics, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida 33431-0991, USA

^*Contact author: rmurph16@vols.utk.edu

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 084005 – Published 3 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2bdz-783t

Abstract

We present the gravitational wave predictions from two-dimensional core collapse supernova simulations initiated from two nearly identical progenitors that have significantly different internal structures due to their late-stage stellar evolution. At the time of collapse, the $15.78 M_{⊙}$ and $15.79 M_{⊙}$ progenitors have compactness parameters $ξ_{2.5}$ of 0.136 and 0.206, respectively. We connect several features of the gravitational wave signal from each model to its previously explored explosion dynamics. In particular, the greater accretion onto the proto-neutron star of the more compact model is evident in broadband frequency features with larger amplitude gravitational wave strains and greater gravitational wave energy release when compared to the less compact model. Additionally, the faster contraction rate of the more compact model is reflected in the $\sim 26 %$ greater slope of the $g$ -/ $f$ -mode feature evolution of the gravitational wave signal. This work shows that in principle gravitational wave detection may provide information about interior stellar structure.

Physical Review D

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Gravitational waves as a probe of core collapse supernova progenitor structure

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Gravitational waves as a probe of core collapse supernova progenitor structure

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