Core-Collapse Supernova Mechanisms and their Signature in Gravitational Waves

Despite many decades of concerted theoretical effort and numerical modeling, the details of the core-collapse supernova explosion mechanism are still under debate. Indications are strong that the supernova mechanism is intrinsically multi-dimensional and involves (a combination of) postbounce energy deposition by neutrinos, convective instability, the standing-accretion-shock instability (SASI), unstable protoneutron star core g-mode oscillations, rotation, magneto-hydrodynamic effects, and nuclear burning. I review the current status of core-collapse supernova theory and modeling and introduce the ensemble of viable candidate explosion mechanisms that is emerging from recent multi-dimensional core collapse and postbounce supernova models. I go on to discuss gravitational-wave emission processes in core-collapse supernovae and present new results on the supernova gravitational-wave signature that were obtained with 2D/3D general relativistic and Newtonian simulations. I demonstrate how gravitational radiation from a core-collapse supernova observed by current and future detectors could be used to constrain the core-collapse supernova explosion mechanism.