BIO

My name is James Hugglestone and I was born in Sarasota, Florida. I'm a student at Florida State University and am passionate about computer science, specifically learning about the efficiency of algorithms in code. My ultimate career goal is to work in the field of cybersecurity.

Statistical Modeling of Type Ia SN Flame

Abstract

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are explosions that occur when white dwarfs (formed as an end-product of low-mass stars) meet suitable conditions. In 1992, F. Timmes and S. Woosley published a paper in which they analyzed the physical properties of stellar flames that power SN Ia explosions. The data produced by Timmes and Woosley was impacted by the inaccurate representation of participating physics and simplified numerics, which negatively affected the accuracy of their result. The utilization of modern techniques and improved microphysics allows the flame speed to be calculated with improved accuracy. By using the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) code’s conductive flame model, we have obtained flame speeds for a broad range of conditions characteristic of massive SN Ia progenitors. We plan to analyze these data and produce an approximate formula to accurately and efficiently calculate the flame speed in Type Ia supernova explosion simulations. Future work will increase the size of the nuclear network used to generate these flame models to further increase the accuracy and precision of our findings.

Keywords: MESA, Supernova, Simulation, Flame, Analysis