Advanced numerical methods in astrophysical fluid dynamics

TL;DR

This paper reviews advanced numerical methods in astrophysical fluid dynamics, focusing on stability and robustness improvements, and discusses the implementation of a time-explicit MHD Boltzmann solver for astrophysics and cosmology.

Contribution

It introduces strategies for converting conditionally-stable methods into unconditionally-stable ones and presents a novel implementation of a time-explicit MHD Boltzmann solver.

Findings

Enhanced robustness of numerical methods

Broadened application range of simulation techniques

Successful implementation of a time-explicit MHD Boltzmann solver

Abstract

Computational gas dynamics has become a prominent research field both in astrophysics and cosmology. In the first part of this review we intend to briefly describe several of the numerical methods used in this field, discuss their range of application and present strategies for converting conditionally-stable numerical methods into unconditionally-stable solution procedures. The underlying aim of the conversion is to enhance the robustness and unification of numerical methods and subsequently enlarge their range of applications considerably. In the second part Fabian Heitsch presents and discusses the implementation of a time-explicit MHD Boltzmann solver.