Comparing Early Evolution of Flames in X-Ray Bursts in Two and Three Dimensions

Abstract

We explore the early evolution of flame ignition and spreading on the surface of a neutron star in three dimensions, in the context of X-ray bursts. We look at the nucleosynthesis and morphology of the burning front and compare to two-dimensional axisymmetric simulations to gauge how important a full three-dimensional treatment of the flame is for the early dynamics. Finally, we discuss the progress toward full-star resolved flame simulations.

Keywords

• X-ray bursts
• Computational methods
• GPU computing
• Open source software
• Explosive nucleosynthesis