2,901 research outputs found
Stable boundary conditions for Cartesian grid calculations
The inviscid Euler equations in complicated geometries are solved using a Cartesian grid. This requires solid wall boundary conditions in the irregular grid cells near the boundary. Since these cells may be orders of magnitude smaller than the regular grid cells, stability is a primary concern. An approach to this problem is presented and its use is illustrated
Critical Collapse of an Ultrarelativistic Fluid in the Limit
In this paper we investigate the critical collapse of an ultrarelativistic
perfect fluid with the equation of state in the limit of
. We calculate the limiting continuously self similar (CSS)
solution and the limiting scaling exponent by exploiting self-similarity of the
solution. We also solve the complete set of equations governing the
gravitational collapse numerically for and
compare them with the CSS solutions. We also investigate the supercritical
regime and discuss the hypothesis of naked singularity formation in a generic
gravitational collapse. The numerical calculations make use of advanced methods
such as high resolution shock capturing evolution scheme for the matter
evolution, adaptive mesh refinement, and quadruple precision arithmetic. The
treatment of vacuum is also non standard. We were able to tune the critical
parameter up to 30 significant digits and to calculate the scaling exponents
accurately. The numerical results agree very well with those calculated using
the CSS ansatz. The analysis of the collapse in the supercritical regime
supports the hypothesis of the existence of naked singularities formed during a
generic gravitational collapse.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, revised version, added new results of
investigation of a supercritical collapse and the existence of naked
singularities in generic gravitational collaps
Type II critical phenomena of neutron star collapse
We investigate spherically-symmetric, general relativistic systems of
collapsing perfect fluid distributions. We consider neutron star models that
are driven to collapse by the addition of an initially "in-going" velocity
profile to the nominally static star solution. The neutron star models we use
are Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff solutions with an initially isentropic,
gamma-law equation of state. The initial values of 1) the amplitude of the
velocity profile, and 2) the central density of the star, span a parameter
space, and we focus only on that region that gives rise to Type II critical
behavior, wherein black holes of arbitrarily small mass can be formed. In
contrast to previously published work, we find that--for a specific value of
the adiabatic index (Gamma = 2)--the observed Type II critical solution has
approximately the same scaling exponent as that calculated for an
ultrarelativistic fluid of the same index. Further, we find that the critical
solution computed using the ideal-gas equations of state asymptotes to the
ultrarelativistic critical solution.Comment: 24 pages, 22 figures, RevTeX 4, submitted to Phys. Rev.
A minimal integer automaton behind crystal plasticity
Power law fluctuations and scale free spatial patterns are known to
characterize steady state plastic flow in crystalline materials. In this Letter
we study the emergence of correlations in a simple Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) type
model of 2D plasticity which is largely free of arbitrariness, amenable to
analytical study and is capable of generating critical exponents matching
experiments. Our main observation concerns the possibility to reduce continuum
plasticity to an integer valued automaton revealing inherent discreteness of
the plastic flow.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
The Athena Astrophysical MHD Code in Cylindrical Geometry
A method for implementing cylindrical coordinates in the Athena
magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code is described. The extension follows the
approach of Athena's original developers and has been designed to alter the
existing Cartesian-coordinates code as minimally and transparently as possible.
The numerical equations in cylindrical coordinates are formulated to maintain
consistency with constrained transport, a central feature of the Athena
algorithm, while making use of previously implemented code modules such as the
Riemann solvers. Angular-momentum transport, which is critical in astrophysical
disk systems dominated by rotation, is treated carefully. We describe
modifications for cylindrical coordinates of the higher-order spatial
reconstruction and characteristic evolution steps as well as the finite-volume
and constrained transport updates. Finally, we present a test suite of standard
and novel problems in one-, two-, and three-dimensions designed to validate our
algorithms and implementation and to be of use to other code developers. The
code is suitable for use in a wide variety of astrophysical applications and is
freely available for download on the web
Are gauge shocks really shocks?
The existence of gauge pathologies associated with the Bona-Masso family of
generalized harmonic slicing conditions is proven for the case of simple 1+1
relativity. It is shown that these gauge pathologies are true shocks in the
sense that the characteristic lines associated with the propagation of the
gauge cross, which implies that the name ``gauge shock'' usually given to such
pathologies is indeed correct. These gauge shocks are associated with places
where the spatial hypersurfaces that determine the foliation of spacetime
become non-smooth.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, REVTEX 4. Revised version, including corrections
suggested by referee
Raman signatures of classical and quantum phases in coupled dots: A theoretical prediction
We study electron molecules in realistic vertically coupled quantum dots in a
strong magnetic field. Computing the energy spectrum, pair correlation
functions, and dynamical form factor as a function of inter-dot coupling via
diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian, we identify structural
transitions between different phases, some of which do not have a classical
counterpart. The calculated Raman cross section shows how such phases can be
experimentally singled out.Comment: 9 pages, 2 postscript figures, 1 colour postscript figure, Latex 2e,
Europhysics Letters style and epsfig macros. Submitted to Europhysics Letter
Finite difference lattice Boltzmann model with flux limiters for liquid-vapor systems
In this paper we apply a finite difference lattice Boltzmann model to study
the phase separation in a two-dimensional liquid-vapor system. Spurious
numerical effects in macroscopic equations are discussed and an appropriate
numerical scheme involving flux limiter techniques is proposed to minimize them
and guarantee a better numerical stability at very low viscosity. The phase
separation kinetics is investigated and we find evidence of two different
growth regimes depending on the value of the fluid viscosity as well as on the
liquid-vapor ratio.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Accurate discretization of advection-diffusion equations
We present an exact mathematical transformation which converts a wide class
of advection-diffusion equations into a form allowing simple and direct spatial
discretization in all dimensions, and thus the construction of accurate and
more efficient numerical algorithms. These discretized forms can also be viewed
as master equations which provides an alternative mesoscopic interpretation of
advection-diffusion processes in terms of diffusion with spatially varying
hopping rates
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