AAS 198th Meeting, June 2001
Session 40. Supernova Remnants
Display, Tuesday, June 5, 2001, 10:00am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall

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[40.07] Application of a 3D, Adaptive, Parallel, MHD Code to Supernova Remnant Simulations

P. Kominsky, R.P. Drake, K.G. Powell (U. Michigan)

We at Michigan have a computational model, BATS-R-US, which incorporates several modern features that make it suitable for calculations of supernova remnant evolution. In particular, it is a three-dimensional MHD model, using a method called the Multiscale Adaptive Upwind Scheme for MagnetoHydroDynamics (MAUS-MHD). It incorporates a data structure that allows for adaptive refinement of the mesh, even in massively parallel calculations. Its advanced Godunov method, a solution-adaptive, upwind, high-resolution scheme, incorporates a new, flux-based approach to the Riemann solver with improved numerical properties. This code has been successfully applied to several problems, including the simulation of comets and of planetary magnetospheres, in the 3D context of the Heliosphere. The code was developed under a NASA computational grand challenge grant to run very rapidly on parallel platforms. It is also now being used to study time-dependent systems such as the transport of particles and energy from solar coronal mass ejections to the Earth.

We are in the process of modifying this code so that it can accommodate the very strong shocks present in supernova remnants. Our test case simulates the explosion of a star of 1.4 solar masses with an energy of 1 foe, in a uniform background medium. We have performed runs of 250,000 to 1 million cells on 8 nodes of an Origin 2000. These relatively coarse grids do not allow fine details of instabilities to become visible. Nevertheless, the macroscopic evolution of the shock is simulated well, with the forward and reverse shocks visible in velocity profiles. We will show our work to date.

This work was supported by NASA through its GSRP program.


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