A radiation hydrodynamics scheme on adaptive meshes using the Variable Eddington Tensor (VET) closure. Issue Volume 16:Issue S362(2020) (June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Menon, Shyam H.; Federrath, Christoph; Krumholz, Mark R.; Kuiper, Rolf; Wibking, Benjamin D.; Jung, Manuel
• Editors: Bisikalo, Dmitry; Wiebe, Dmitri; Boily, Christian
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. Volume 16:Issue S362(2020)
• Page Start: 358
• Page End: 364
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Subjects: radiative transfer -- methods: numerical -- radiation mechanisms: general -- hydrodynamics; Astronomy -- Congresses; Astronomy -- Periodicals; 520
• DOI: 10.1017/S1743921322001429
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1743-9213

Abstract

Abstract: We present a new algorithm to solve the equations of radiation hydrodynamics (RHD) in a frequency-integrated, two-moment formulation. Novel features of the algorithm include i) the adoption of a non-local Variable Eddington Tensor (VET) closure for the radiation moment equations, computed with a ray-tracing method, ii) support for adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), iii) use of a time-implicit Godunov method for the hyperbolic transport of radiation, and iv) a fixed-point Picard iteration scheme to accurately handle the stiff nonlinear gas-radiation energy exchange. Tests demonstrate that our scheme works correctly, yields accurate rates of energy and momentum transfer between gas and radiation, and obtains the correct radiation field distribution even in situations where more commonly used – but less accurate – closure relations like the Flux-limited Diffusion and Moment-1 approximations fail. Our scheme presents an important step towards performing RHD simulations with increasing spatial and directional accuracy, effectively improving their predictive capabilities.