2016/03/17 by W. David Arnett, Casey Meakin · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Classical mechanics #Convection #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Mechanics #Physics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Stars #Stellar evolution #Stellar rotation #Stellar structure #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supernova #Turbulence #astro-ph.SR #gr-qc #nlin.CD
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0034-4885/79/10/102901
8 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, submitted to Reports on Progress in Physics
arxiv created 2016/03/17 · openalex publication_date 2016/09/22 · arxiv updated 2016/10/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Three major problems of single-star astrophysics are convection, magnetic fields and rotation. Numerical simulations of convection in stars now have sufficient resolution to be truly turbulent, with effective Reynolds numbers of [Formula: see text], and some turbulent boundary layers have been resolved. Implications of these developments are discussed for stellar structure, evolution and explosion as supernovae. Methods for three-dimensional (3D) simulations of stars are compared and discussed for 3D atmospheres, solar rotation, core-collapse and stellar boundary layers. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) analysis of the numerical simulations has been shown to provide a novel and quantitative estimate of resolution errors. Present treatments of stellar boundaries require revision, even for early burning stages (e.g. for mixing regions during He-burning). As stellar core-collapse is approached, asymmetry and fluctuations grow, rendering spherically symmetric models of progenitors more unrealistic. Numerical resolution of several different types of three-dimensional (3D) stellar simulations are compared; it is suggested that core-collapse simulations may be under-resolved. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability in explosions has a deep connection to convection, for which the abundance structure in supernova remnants may provide evidence.