1212.4380 (M. Zingale et al.)

Low Mach Number Modeling of Convection in Helium Shells on Sub-Chandrasekhar White Dwarfs. I. Methodology    [PDF]

M. Zingale, A. Nonaka, A. S. Almgren, J. B. Bell, C. M. Malone, R. J. Orvedahl

We assess the robustness of a low Mach number hydrodynamics algorithm for modeling helium shell convection on the surface of a white dwarf in the context of the sub-Chandrasekhar model for Type Ia supernovae. We use the low Mach number stellar hydrodynamics code, MAESTRO, to perform three-dimensional, spatially-adaptive simulations of convection leading up to the point of the ignition of a burning front. We show that the low Mach number hydrodynamics model provides a robust description of the system.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.4380