Jet-induced Explosions of Core Collapse Supernovae

We numerically studied the explosion of a supernova caused by supersonic jetspresent in its center. The jets are assumed to be generated by amagneto-rotational mechanism when a stellar core collapses into a neutron star.We simulated the process of the jet propagation through the star, jetbreakthrough, and the ejection of the supernova envelope by the lateral shocksgenerated during jet propagation. The end result of the interaction is a highlynonspherical supernova explosion with two high-velocity jets of material movingin polar directions, and a slower moving, oblate, highly distorted ejectacontaining most of the supernova material. The jet-induced explosion isentirely due to the action of the jets on the surrounding star and does notdepend on neutrino transport or re-acceleration of a stalled shock. The jetmechanism can explain the observed high polarization of Type Ib,c and Type IIsupernovae, pulsar kicks, very high velocity material observed in supernovaremnants, indications that radioactive material was carried to thehydrogen-rich layers in SN1987A, and some others observations that are verydifficult or impossible to explain by the neutrino energy deposition mechanism.The breakout of the jet from a compact, hydrogen- deficient core may accountfor the gamma-ray bursts and radio outburst associated with SN1998bw/GRB980425.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, aaspp4.sty, epsf.sty, submitted to ApJ Let