Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf Collisions
We investigate the numerical stability of thermonuclear detonations in 1D accelerated reactive shocks and 2D binary collisions of equal-mass magnetized and unmagnetized white dwarf stars. To achieve high resolution at initiation sites, we devised geometric gridding and mesh velocity strategies speci...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada9e3 |
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| author | Peter Anninos David Cruz-Lopez Brighten Jiang Emanuel Gordis |
| author_facet | Peter Anninos David Cruz-Lopez Brighten Jiang Emanuel Gordis |
| author_sort | Peter Anninos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We investigate the numerical stability of thermonuclear detonations in 1D accelerated reactive shocks and 2D binary collisions of equal-mass magnetized and unmagnetized white dwarf stars. To achieve high resolution at initiation sites, we devised geometric gridding and mesh velocity strategies specially adapted to the unique requirements of head-on collisional geometries, scenarios in which one expects maximum production of iron-group products. We study the effects of grid resolution and the limiting of temperature, energy generation, and reactants for different stellar masses, separations, magnetic fields, initial compositions, detonation mechanisms, and limiter parameters across a range of cell sizes from 1 to 100 km. Our results set bounds on the parameter space of limiter amplitudes for which both temperature- and energy-limiting procedures yield consistent and monotonically convergent solutions. Within these bounds, we find that grid resolutions of 5 km or better are necessary for uncertainties in total released energy and iron-group products to drop below 10%. Intermediate-mass products (e.g., calcium) exhibit similar convergence trends but with somewhat greater uncertainty. These conclusions apply equally to pure C/O white dwarfs, multispecies compositions (including helium shells), magnetized and unmagnetized cores, and either single or multiple detonation scenarios. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0b70e52938d64e91bf747f8e1c6146f6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-0b70e52938d64e91bf747f8e1c6146f62025-02-10T06:29:03ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01980114910.3847/1538-4357/ada9e3Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf CollisionsPeter Anninos0David Cruz-Lopez1Brighten Jiang2Emanuel Gordis3Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore, CA 94550, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Illinois , Urbana, IL 61801, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611, USADepartment of Physics, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY 14853, USAWe investigate the numerical stability of thermonuclear detonations in 1D accelerated reactive shocks and 2D binary collisions of equal-mass magnetized and unmagnetized white dwarf stars. To achieve high resolution at initiation sites, we devised geometric gridding and mesh velocity strategies specially adapted to the unique requirements of head-on collisional geometries, scenarios in which one expects maximum production of iron-group products. We study the effects of grid resolution and the limiting of temperature, energy generation, and reactants for different stellar masses, separations, magnetic fields, initial compositions, detonation mechanisms, and limiter parameters across a range of cell sizes from 1 to 100 km. Our results set bounds on the parameter space of limiter amplitudes for which both temperature- and energy-limiting procedures yield consistent and monotonically convergent solutions. Within these bounds, we find that grid resolutions of 5 km or better are necessary for uncertainties in total released energy and iron-group products to drop below 10%. Intermediate-mass products (e.g., calcium) exhibit similar convergence trends but with somewhat greater uncertainty. These conclusions apply equally to pure C/O white dwarfs, multispecies compositions (including helium shells), magnetized and unmagnetized cores, and either single or multiple detonation scenarios.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada9e3White dwarf starsNuclear astrophysics |
| spellingShingle | Peter Anninos David Cruz-Lopez Brighten Jiang Emanuel Gordis Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf Collisions The Astrophysical Journal White dwarf stars Nuclear astrophysics |
| title | Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf Collisions |
| title_full | Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf Collisions |
| title_fullStr | Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf Collisions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf Collisions |
| title_short | Stability and Convergence of Nuclear Detonations in White Dwarf Collisions |
| title_sort | stability and convergence of nuclear detonations in white dwarf collisions |
| topic | White dwarf stars Nuclear astrophysics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada9e3 |
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