39 research outputs found
On the Evolution of Thermonuclear Flames on Large Scales
The thermonuclear explosion of a massive white dwarf in a Type Ia supernova
explosion is characterized by vastly disparate spatial and temporal scales. The
extreme dynamic range inherent to the problem prevents the use of direct
numerical simulation and forces modelers to resort to subgrid models to
describe physical processes taking place on unresolved scales.
We consider the evolution of a model thermonuclear flame in a constant
gravitational field on a periodic domain. The gravitational acceleration is
aligned with the overall direction of the flame propagation, making the flame
surface subject to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The flame evolution is
followed through an extended initial transient phase well into the steady-state
regime. The properties of the evolution of flame surface are examined. We
confirm the form of the governing equation of the evolution suggested by
Khokhlov (1995). The mechanism of vorticity production and the interaction
between vortices and the flame surface are discussed. The results of our
investigation provide the bases for revising and extending previous
subgrid-scale model.Comment: 15 pages, 22 postscript figures. Accepted for publication by the
Astrophysical Journal. High resolution figures can be found at
http://flash.uchicago.edu/~zhang/research_paper.htm
General Relativistic Simulations of Stellar Core Collapse and Postbounce Evolution with Boltzmann Neutrino Transport
We present self-consistent general relativistic simulations of stellar core
collapse, bounce, and postbounce evolution for 13, 15, and 20 solar mass
progenitors in spherical symmetry. Our simulations implement three-flavor
Boltzmann neutrino transport and standard nuclear physics. The results are
compared to our corresponding simulations with Newtonian hydrodynamics and
O(v/c) Boltzmann transport.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Proceedings of the 20th Texas
Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, edited by J.C. Wheeler and H. Martel
(American Institute of Physics
Simulation of the Spherically Symmetric Stellar Core Collapse, Bounce, and Postbounce Evolution of a 13 Solar Mass Star with Boltzmann Neutrino Transport, and Its Implications for the Supernova Mechanism
With exact three-flavor Boltzmann neutrino transport, we simulate the stellar
core collapse, bounce, and postbounce evolution of a 13 solar mass star in
spherical symmetry, the Newtonian limit, without invoking convection. In the
absence of convection, prior spherically symmetric models, which implemented
approximations to Boltzmann transport, failed to produce explosions. We are
motivated to consider exact transport to determine if these failures were due
to the transport approximations made and to answer remaining fundamental
questions in supernova theory. The model presented here is the first in a
sequence of models beginning with different progenitors. In this model, a
supernova explosion is not obtained. We discuss the ramifications of our
results for the supernova mechanism.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to Physical Review Letter