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Paper: Modeling Colliding Wind Binaries with RAMSES: Extension to Special Relativity
Volume: 474, Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows (ASTRONUM2012)
Page: 252
Authors: Lamberts, A.; Fromang, S.; Dubus, G.; Lesur, G.
Abstract: We present simulations of colliding supersonic stellar winds with RAMSES. The collision results in a double shock structure that is subject to different instabilities. Properly modeling these instabilities requires a high enough resolution. At large scale, orbital motion is expected to turn the shocked zone into a spiral but we find that in some configurations the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) may disrupt the spiral. A colliding wind structure is also expected in gamma-ray binaries composed of a massive star and a young pulsar that emits a highly relativistic wind. Numerical simulations are necessary to understand the geometry of such systems and should take into account the relativistic nature of the pulsar wind. We implemented a second order Godunov method to solve the equations of relativistic hydrodynamics (RHD) with RAMSES, including the possibility for Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR). After a brief overview of our numerical implementation, we will present preliminary simulations of gamma-ray binaries.
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