Title: Analysis and applications of advection-reaction-diffusion flame model

Speaker: Natalia Vladimirova, City University of New York

Date/Time: Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 9:00 am Mountain Time       

Location: CSRI Building/Room 90 (Sandia NM)

Brief Abstract: During the deflagration stage of a Type Ia supernova explosion, a bubble of reaction products surrounded by a thin nuclear flame rises to the surface of the star; the bubble breakout results in deflagration-to-detonation transition.  In whole-star simulations, the flame thickness is too small to be resolved, but this issue can be addressed using a flame-capturing model.  The initial location of the bubble is unknown, but its effect can be studied in isolation.

In this talk, I present (i) an advection-reaction-diffusion flame-capturing model, (ii) the coupling of this model to (weakly) compressible flow in a astrophysical application code, and (iii) the application of the model to the analysis of the initial conditions (i.e., bubble size and location) for Type Ia supernovae simulations.

This work was done at the DOE-supported ASC / Alliance Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes at the University of Chicago.  In addition to scientific contributions, the center developed the FLASH code, a widely used community code for astrophysics.

CSRI POC: Carter Edwards, 505-284-4640