Thermonuclear Explosions of Chandrasekhar-Mass White Dwarfs

Abstract

We present a new way of modeling turbulent thermonuclear deflagration fronts in Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs, consisting of carbon and oxygen, undergoing a type Ia supernova explosion. Our approach is a front capturing/tracking hybrid scheme, based on a level set method, which treats the front as a mathematical discontinuity and allows for full coupling between the front geometry and the flow field. First results of the method applied to the problem of type Ia supernovae are discussed. It will be shown that even in 2-D and even with a physically motivated sub-grid model numerically ``converged'' results are difficult to obtain.