# Directional Sensitivity In Light-Mass Dark Matter Searches With Single-Electron Resolution Ionization Detectors [CL]

We present a method for using solid state detectors with directional sensitivity to dark matter interactions to detect low-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) originating from galactic sources. In spite of a large body of literature for high-mass WIMP detectors with directional sensitivity, there is no available technique to cover WIMPs in the mass range <1 GeV. We argue that single-electron resolution semiconductor detectors allow for directional sensitivity once properly calibrated. We examine commonly used semiconductor material response to these low-mass WIMP interactions.

F. Kadribasic, N. Mirabolfathi, K. Nordlund, et. al.
Fri, 17 Mar 17
32/50

# Quantum Nuclear Pasta and Nuclear Symmetry Energy [CL]

Complex and exotic nuclear geometries are expected to appear naturally in dense nuclear matter found in the crust of neutron stars and supernovae environment collectively referred to as nuclear pasta. The pasta geometries depend on the average baryon density, proton fraction and temperature and are critically important in the determination of many transport properties of matter in supernovae and the crust of neutron stars. Using a set of self-consistent microscopic nuclear energy density functionals we present the first results of large scale quantum simulations of pasta phases at baryon densities $0.03 \leq \rho \leq 0.10$ fm$^{-3}$, proton fractions $0.05 \leq Y_p \leq 0.40$, and zero temperature. The full quantum simulations, in particular, allow us to thoroughly investigate the role and impact of the nuclear symmetry energy on pasta configurations. We use the Sky3D code that solves the Skyrme Hartree-Fock equations on a three-dimensional Cartesian grid. For the nuclear interaction we use the state of the art UNEDF1 parametrization, which was introduced to study largely deformed nuclei, hence is suitable for studies of the nuclear pasta. Density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy is simulated by tuning two purely isovector observables that are insensitive to the current available experimental data. We find that a minimum total number of nucleons $A=2000$ is necessary to prevent the results from containing spurious shell effects and to minimize finite size effects. We find that a variety of nuclear pasta geometries are present in the neutron star crust and the result strongly depends on the nuclear symmetry energy. The impact of the nuclear symmetry energy is less pronounced as the proton fractions increase. Quantum nuclear pasta calculations at $T=0$ MeV are shown to get easily trapped in meta-stable states, and possible remedies to avoid meta-stable solutions are discussed.

F. Fattoyev, C. Horowitz and B. Schuetrumpf
Tue, 7 Mar 17
3/66

Comments: 23 pages, 18 figures, 8 tables

# Magnetic Reconnection in Turbulent Diluted Plasmas [CL]

We study magnetic reconnection events in a turbulent plasma within the two-fluid theory. By identifying the diffusive regions, we measure the reconnection rates as function of the conductivity and current sheet thickness. We have found that the reconnection rate scales as the squared of the inverse of the current sheet’s thickness and is independent of the aspect ratio of the diffusive region, in contrast to other analytical, e.g. the Sweet-Parker and Petscheck, and numerical models. Furthermore, while the reconnection rates are also proportional to the square inverse of the conductivity, the aspect ratios of the diffusive regions, which exhibit values in the range of $0.1-0.9$, are not correlated to the latter. Our findings suggest a new expression for the magnetic reconnection rate, which, after experimental verification, can provide a further understanding of the magnetic reconnection process.

N. Offeddu and M. Mendoza
Mon, 6 Mar 17
21/47

# Higher Order Accurate Space-Time Schemes for Computational Astrophysics — Part I — Finite Volume Methods [IMA]

As computational astrophysics comes under pressure to become a precision science, there is an increasing need to move to high accuracy schemes for computational astrophysics. Hence the need for a specialized review on higher order schemes for computational astrophysics.
The focus here is on weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) schemes, discontinuous Galerkin (DG) schemes and PNPM schemes. WENO schemes are higher order extensions of traditional second order finite volume schemes which are already familiar to most computational astrophysicists. DG schemes, on the other hand, evolve all the moments of the solution, with the result that they are more accurate than WENO schemes. PNPM schemes occupy a compromise position between WENO and PNPM schemes. They evolve an Nth order spatial polynomial, while reconstructing higher order terms up to Mth order. As a result, the timestep can be larger.
Time-dependent astrophysical codes need to be accurate in space and time. This is realized with the help of SSP-RK (strong stability preserving Runge-Kutta) schemes and ADER (Arbitrary DERivative in space and time) schemes. The most popular approaches to SSP-RK and ADER schemes are also described.
The style of this review is to assume that readers have a basic understanding of hyperbolic systems and one-dimensional Riemann solvers. Such an understanding can be acquired from a sequence of prepackaged lectures available from this http URL We then build on this understanding to give the reader a practical introduction to the schemes described here. The emphasis is on computer-implementable ideas, not necessarily on the underlying theory, because it was felt that this would be most interesting to most computational astrophysicists.

D. Balsara
Mon, 6 Mar 17
28/47

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# Comparative statistics of selected subgrid-scale models in large eddy simulations of decaying, supersonic MHD turbulence [CL]

Large eddy simulations (LES) are a powerful tool in understanding processes that are inaccessible by direct simulations due to their complexity, for example, in the highly turbulent regime. However, their accuracy and success depends on a proper subgrid-scale (SGS) model that accounts for the unresolved scales in the simulation. We evaluate the applicability of two traditional SGS models, namely the eddy-viscosity (EV) and the scale-similarity (SS) model, and one recently proposed nonlinear (NL) SGS model in the realm of compressible MHD turbulence. Using 209 simulations of decaying, supersonic (initial sonic Mach number of ~3) MHD turbulence with a shock-capturing scheme and varying resolution, SGS model and filter, we analyze the ensemble statistics of kinetic and magnetic energy spectra and structure functions. Furthermore, we compare the temporal evolution of lower and higher order statistical moments of the spatial distributions of kinetic and magnetic energy, vorticity, current density, and dilatation magnitudes. We find no statistical influence on the evolution of the flow by any model if grid-scale quantities are used to calculate SGS contributions. In addition, the SS models, which employ an explicit filter, have no impact in general. On the contrary, both EV and NL models change the statistics if an explicit filter is used. For example, they slightly increase the dissipation on the smallest scales. We demonstrate that the nonlinear model improves higher order statistics already with a small explicit filter, i.e. a three-point stencil. The results of e.g. the structure functions or the skewness and kurtosis of the current density distribution are closer to the ones obtained from simulations at higher resolution. We conclude that the nonlinear model with a small explicit filter is suitable for application in more complex scenarios when higher order statistics are important.

P. Grete, D. Vlaykov, W. Schmidt, et. al.
Fri, 3 Mar 17
36/62

Comments: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in PRE

# Detonability of white dwarf plasma: turbulence models at low densities [SSA]

We study the conditions required to produce self-sustained detonations in turbulent, carbon-oxygen degenerate plasma at low densities.
We perform a series of three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of turbulence driven with various degrees of compressibility. The average conditions in the simulations are representative of models of merging binary white dwarfs.
We find that material with very short ignition times is abundant in the case that turbulence is driven compressively. This material forms contiguous structures that persist over many ignition times, and that we identify as prospective detonation kernels. Detailed analysis of prospective kernels reveals that these objects are centrally-condensed and their shape is characterized by low curvature, supportive of self-sustained detonations. The key characteristic of the newly proposed detonation mechanism is thus high degree of compressibility of turbulent drive.
The simulated detonation kernels have sizes notably smaller than the spatial resolution of any white dwarf merger simulation performed to date. The resolution required to resolve kernels is 0.1 km. Our results indicate a high probability of detonations in such well-resolved simulations of carbon-oxygen white dwarf mergers. These simulations will likely produce detonations in systems of lower total mass, thus broadening the population of white dwarf binaries capable of producing Type Ia supernovae. Consequently, we expect a downward revision of the lower limit of the total merger mass that is capable of producing a prompt detonation.
We review application of the new detonation mechanism to various explosion scenarios of single, Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs.

D. Fenn and T. Plewa
Thu, 2 Mar 17
43/44

Comments: 13 pages, MNRAS in press

# Multi-Dimensional Vlasov-Poisson Simulations with High-Order Monotonicity and Positivity Preserving Schemes [CL]

We develop new numerical schemes for Vlasov–Poisson equations with high-order accuracy. Our methods are based on a spatially monotonicity-preserving (MP) scheme, and are modified suitably so that positivity of the distribution function is also preserved. We adopt an efficient semi-Lagrangian time integration scheme which is more accurate and computationally less expensive than the three-stage TVD Runge-Kutta integration. We apply our spatially fifth- and seventh-order schemes to a suite of simulations of collisionless self-gravitating systems and electrostatic plasma simulations, including linear and nonlinear Landau damping in one-dimension and Vlasov–Poisson simulations in a six-dimensional phase space. The high-order schemes achieve a significantly improved accuracy in comparison with the third-order positive-flux-conserved scheme adopted in our previous study. With the semi-Lagrangian time integration, the computational cost of our high-order schemes does not significantly increase, but remains roughly the same as that of the third-order scheme.

S. Tanaka, K. Yoshikawa, T. Minoshima, et. al.
Wed, 1 Mar 17
31/67

Comments: 24 pages, 19 figures. Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal