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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are the product of a thermonuclear explosion consuming degenerate carbon and oxygen, indicating the presence of at least one white dwarf (WD) in their progenitor. Different models have been proposed for possible SNe Ia progenitors as a result of diversity in observed spectra. In the WD merger scenario, the less massive WD in the binary system is tidally disrupted by the primary WD forming a disk. The primary WD then accretes carbon and oxygen generating the conditions for thermonuclear ignition. In order to understand the dynamics of the merger process and evolution, we develop 3D hydrodynamic simulations using the code Castro. Castro is a compressible hydrodynamics code supporting self-gravity, general equation of state and nuclear reactions, and radiation. Castro is built on the AMReX library and uses a hybrid parallelization approach with MPI+X, where X is OpenMP for CPUs and CUDA for GPUs. In this talk I will expand on Castro’s ongoing development, especially on the efforts in implementing a MHD solver. I will also present results validating the numerical methodology of a 0.6 M⊙+0.9 M⊙ WD merger system and ongoing studies on the feasibility of detonation conditions with emphasis on different WD mass combinations, and self consistent initial conditions of the system.
Host: Timothy Waters