General Physics Physics Seminar 16 January 2003


Simulations of Relativistic Astrophysical Flows

Jeroen Bergmans and Bram Achterberg (Astronomical Institute, Utrecht, NL)
Daniel van Odyck and Barry Koren (CWI, Amsterdam, NL)
Rony Keppens (FOM Instituut voor Plasmafysica Rijnhuizen, Nieuwegein, NL


Gamma-ray bursts constitute the most energetic events in the observable universe so far. Their nature is still a mystery, but the energy and timescales suggest that the source must be accompanied by an extremely relativistic explosion or jet flow. Relativistic jets are also found in active galaxies and quasars. The structure and behavior of all these objects is characterized by sharp discontinuities or shocks in the flow.

To numerically model these phenomena both accurate representation of the shocks (small scales) as well as the global flow pattern are required. The aim is to combine shock-capturing methods for the relativistic fluid equations with an adaptive mesh refinement algorithm to bridge the large range of length scales involved.