Irina Sagert (Indiana University)
I will report on an ongoing project to develop a large scale Direct Simulation Monte Carlo code for astrophysical simulations. The kinetic code applies methods which were adapted from the modeling of nuclear collision in heavy ion experiments and is aimed, amongst others, towards applications in core-collapse supernova studies. To explore the kinetic code’s ability to retrieve known hydrodynamic solutions, we perform classic shock tests, simulate the evolution of fluid instabilities, and perform simple gas-cloud collapse tests. In addition, we take advantage of the code’s ability to describe matter out of the continuum regime when applying large particle mean free paths. With that, we study and compare the evolution of shock waves in the continuum limit and out of equilibrium.