Abstract. We present the results of numerical simulations of the spherically symmetric gravitational collapse of supermassive stars (SMS). The collapse is studied using a general relativistic hydrodynamics code. The coupled system of Einstein and fluid equations is solved employing coordinates adapted to a foliation of the spacetime by means of outgoing null hypersurfaces. The code contains an equation of state which includes effects due to radiation, electrons and baryons, and detailed microphysics to account for electron-positron pairs. In addition energy losses by thermal neutrino emission are included. We are able to follow the collapse of SMS from the onset of instability up to the point of black hole formation. Several SMS with masses in the range 5 × 10 5 M −10 9 M are simulated. In all models an apparent horizon forms initially, enclosing the innermost 25% of the stellar mass. From the computed neutrino luminosities, estimates of the energy deposition by νν-annihilation are obtained. Only a small fraction of this energy is deposited near the surface of the star, where, as proposed recently by , it could cause the ultrarelativistic flow believed to be responsible for γ-ray bursts. Our simulations show that for collapsing SMS with masses larger than 5 × 10 5 M the energy deposition is at least two orders of magnitude too small to explain the energetics of observed long-duration bursts at cosmological redshifts. In addition, in the absence of rotational effects the energy is deposited in a region containing most of the stellar mass. Therefore relativistic ejection of matter is impossible.

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