A 3-D model of Supernova 1987A (SN1987A)
Code: Chimera
Allocation: 60 million hours
SN 1987A is the Britney Spears of core-collapse supernovas. As the closest exploding star in nearly 400 years, it provided unprecedented opportunities for earthbound paparazzi to record its every nuance. In particular, researchers were able for the first time to capture supernova-created neutrinos at detectors in the United States and Japan. These tiny particles, elusive on earth, are nevertheless key to how a star blows itself into space.
A team led by ORNL’s Anthony Mezzacappa will use 60 million processor hours on ORNL’s petascale supercomputer, Jaguar, to develop the first realistic three-dimensional model of this exploding star. The simulations, which will include nearly all the factors likely to be important to the supernova explosion, will provide information on the exact mix of factors that caused SN 1987A to blow itself into space after the collapse of its massive iron core. The simulation will also allow the team to make quantitative predictions of the many elements created by this spectacular deep space event, thereby allowing it to compare these predictions with the rich data collected from the event.
Mezzacappa’s team will use a three-part software application known as Chimera, named after the three-sectioned monster of Greek mythology. For this application, the three components are MVH3/VH1, an astrophysical hydrodynamics code that computes the motion of material within the star, MGFLDTRANS, a neutrino radiation transport code that follows the evolution of neutrinos and their interaction with material in the star, and XNET, a nuclear kinetics code that traces the different elements created in the explosion and computes nuclear reactions that take place as the explosion evolves.
The work has the potential to provide insights into fundamental nuclear processes in astrophysics, as well as to demonstrate leadership in the application of scalable numerical algorithms for multi-physics problems.
Fluid velocity streamlines during a type II supernova collapse. Visualization by D. Pugmire (ORNL), and simulation by E. Endeve, C. Cardall, R. Budiardja and A. Mezzacappa.
