Building on more than a decade of work, this project, leveraging the Summit and Polaris supercomputers, aims to produce models of burning and flame propagation on neutron stars as models for x-ray bursts (XRBs), investigate white dwarf mergers and the role of magnetic fields, and explore the end state of massive star convection. These are all multiscale, multiphysics problems whose calculation requires the coupling of hydrodynamics, magnetic fields, reactions, gravity, and diffusion.  

The team’s XRB simulations will provide insight into the rapid proton capture process nucleosynthesis, connect with observations, and probe the structure of the underlying neutron star. A suite of white dwarf mergers, with and without magnetic fields, will be modeled, allowing the team to probe this system as a possible progenitor for Type Ia supernovae. Finally, the massive star research will provide important input (and an Open simulation framework) to the core collapse modeling community.