CFC+: Improved dynamics and gravitational waveforms from relativistic core collapse simulations

Core collapse supernovae are a promising source of detectable gravitational waves. Most of the existing (multidimensional) numerical simulations of core collapse in general relativity have been done using approximations of the Einstein field equations. As recently shown by Dimmelmeier et al (2002a,b), one of the most interesting such approximation is the so-called conformal flatness condition (CFC) of Isenberg, Wilson and Mathews. Building on this previous work we present here new results from numerical simulations of relativistic rotational core collapse in axisymmetry, aiming at improving the dynamics and the gravitational waveforms. The computer code used for these simulations evolves th…