A Black Hole is Born: 3D GRMHD Simulation of Black Hole Formation from Core-Collapse

Abstract

We present the first three-dimensional, fully general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (3D GRMHD) simulation of a black hole (BH) formed from the collapsed core of a massive star. The ability to self-consistently capture the birth of a compact remnant in 3D is crucial for modeling natal BH properties (including masses, spins, and kicks), which are of particular interest in the era of gravitational wave astronomy. However, such simulations have remained elusive due to extreme computational challenges and demands. We employ the GPU-accelerated dynamical-spacetime GRMHD code GRaM-X to follow the collapse, core-bounce, shock propagation, and eventual BH formation of a massive stellar progenitor in full 3D. We initialize our simulation by mapping a one-dimensional (1D) model of a star with a zero-age-main-sequence mass of $45 M_\odot$ to 3D. We use moderate rotation (consistent with expectations from stellar evolution modeling) and a relatively weak dipolar magnetic field. The collapsing core drives a shock that reaches a maximum radius of roughly 170 km before stalling and does not lead to a successful explosion. The proto-neutron star accretes matter before collapsing to form a BH $t_{BH} \approx 325$ ms after core-bounce. The time of BH formation and initial BH mass are remarkably similar to those obtained with GR1D, a 1D general-relativistic neutrino-hydrodynamics code, to which we compare our results. We track the horizon of the newborn BH after formation and calculate a steady kick velocity of $v_{kick} \approx 72$ km/s and a mass of $M_{BH} \approx 2.62 M_\odot$, which is still rising at the end of the simulation.