Physical Constraint Preserving Higher Order Finite Volume Schemes for Divergence-Free Astrophysical MHD and RMHD

TL;DR

This paper introduces physical constraint preserving higher order finite volume schemes for astrophysical MHD and RMHD, effectively handling extreme conditions like high Mach numbers and Lorentz factors with divergence-free magnetic field evolution.

Contribution

The paper presents novel PCP methods with a two-dimensional Riemann solver for divergence-free MHD and RMHD, enhancing stability and accuracy in extreme astrophysical simulations.

Findings

Methods preserve physical constraints effectively.

Schemes maintain high accuracy on extreme problems.

Computational cost remains low.

Abstract

Higher order finite volume schemes for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD) are very valuable because they allow us to carry out astrophysical simulations with very high accuracy. However, astrophysical problems sometimes have unusually large Mach numbers, exceptionally high Lorentz factors and very strong magnetic fields. All these effects cause higher order codes to become brittle and prone to code crashes. In this paper we document physical constraint preserving (PCP) methods for treating numerical MHD and RMHD. While unnecessary for standard problems, for stringent astrophysical problems these methods show their value. We describe higher order methods that allow divergence-free evolution of the magnetic field. We present a novel two-dimensional Riemann solver. This two-dimensional Riemann solver plays a key role in the design of PCP schemes for MHD and RMHD. We present a very simple PCP formulation and show how it is amalgamated with the evolution of face-centered magnetic fields. The methods presented here are time-explicit and do not add much to the computational cost. We show that the methods meet their design accuracies and work well on problems that would otherwise be considered too extreme for typical higher order Godunov methods of the type used in computational astrophysics.