A New Low Mach Number Approach in Astrophysics

A common feature of astrophysical flows is that they typically span a broad range of length and time scales. Specialized numerical algorithms that exploit the relationships between these scales can significantly improve the efficiency of numerical simulations without loss of accuracy. In the case of highly subsonic flows, hydrodynamics algorithms that filter sound waves but retain both local and large-scale compressibility effects can give accurate and efficient solutions. The authors describe the process by which an understanding of the important processes in Type Ia supernovae is guiding the development of new algorithms to model these phenomena.