Computational astrophysics articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Simple analytic estimates and detailed numerical calculations show that the solar dynamo begins near the surface, rather than at the much-deeper tachocline.

    • Geoffrey M. Vasil
    • , Daniel Lecoanet
    •  & Keith Julien

  • Article |

    A three-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulation of a tidal disruption event (TDE) flare from disruption to peak emission shows how deterministic predictions of TDE light curves and spectra can be calculated using moving-mesh hydrodynamics algorithms.

    • Elad Steinberg
    •  & Nicholas C. Stone

  • Article |

    An analysis of archival data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey finds that star-forming satellite galaxies are relatively more common along the minor axis of central galaxies owing to the effect of black hole feedback.

    • Ignacio Martín-Navarro
    • , Annalisa Pillepich
    •  & Volker Springel

  • Letter |

    Simulated mergers of two massive stars provide a solution to the long-standing puzzle of the origin of strong magnetic fields in a subset of massive stars.

    • Fabian R. N. Schneider
    • , Sebastian T. Ohlmann
    •  & Volker Springel

  • Letter |

    An energetic head-on collision between a large impactor and the proto-Jupiter with a primordial compact core could have mixed the heavy elements within the deep interior, leading to a ‘diluted’ core for Jupiter.

    • Shang-Fei Liu
    • , Yasunori Hori
    •  & Andrea Isella

  • Letter |

    A rare type of supernova—triggered by the collapse of a rapidly rotating single star—could have provided more than 80 per cent of the r-process elements in the Universe.

    • Daniel M. Siegel
    • , Jennifer Barnes
    •  & Brian D. Metzger

  • Letter |

    The discovery of a newly born type IIb supernova reveals a rapid brightening at optical wavelengths that corresponds to the shock-breakout phase of the explosion.

    • M. C. Bersten
    • , G. Folatelli
    •  & N. Smith

  • Letter |

    Simulations of dwarf galaxies that include photoelectric grain heating and supernovae indicate that the former is the dominant means by which these galaxies regulate their star formation rate, because the latter are unable to account for the observed large gas depletion times.

    • John C. Forbes
    • , Mark R. Krumholz
    •  & Avishai Dekel

  • Letter |

    60Fe in deep-ocean crusts indicates that two supernovae exploded in the solar neighbourhood, reheating the superbubble that harbours our Solar System; calculations of the trajectories and masses of the supernova progenitors gives their explosion times and sites, 90–100 parsecs away, with masses around nine times the solar mass, at 2.3 and 1.5 million years ago, respectively.

    • D. Breitschwerdt
    • , J. Feige
    •  & B. Fuchs

  • Letter |

    The age of a young to middle-aged star can be determined from how quickly or slowly it rotates, but the relationship breaks down for old stars; models now show that old stars are rotating much more quickly than expected, perhaps because magnetic winds are weaker and therefore brake the rotation less effectively.

    • Jennifer L. van Saders
    • , Tugdual Ceillier
    •  & Guy R. Davies

  • Letter |

    Global, three-dimensional simulations of rapidly rotating massive stars show that turbulence driven by magnetohydrodynamic instability is a promising mechanism for the formation of pulsars and magnetars, the latter potentially powering hyperenergetic and superluminous supernovae.

    • Philipp Mösta
    • , Christian D. Ott
    •  & Roland Haas

  • Letter |

    Submillimetre-bright galaxies at high redshift are the most luminous, heavily star-forming galaxies in the Universe, but cosmological simulations of such galaxies have so far been unsuccessful; now a cosmological hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulation is reported that can form a submillimetre galaxy that simultaneously satisfies the broad range of observed physical constraints.

    • Desika Narayanan
    • , Matthew Turk
    •  & Dušan Kereš

  • Letter |

    Modelling of planetary formation reveals that asymmetries in the temperature rise associated with accretion produce a torque that counteracts inward migration, suggesting how the conditions for giant-planet formation may arise.

    • Pablo Benítez-Llambay
    • , Frédéric Masset
    •  & Judit Szulágyi

  • Article |

    A simulation that starts 12 million years after the Big Bang and traces 13 billion years of cosmic evolution yields a reasonable population of elliptical and spiral galaxies, reproduces the observed distribution of galaxies in clusters and the characteristics of hydrogen on large scales, and at the same time matches the ‘metal’ and hydrogen content of galaxies on small scales.

    • M. Vogelsberger
    • , S. Genel
    •  & L. Hernquist

  • News |

    Realistic computational models of supernovae might soon solve a long-standing mystery.

    • Eric Hand

  • Letter |

    The properties of 'dwarf' galaxies have long challenged the cold dark matter (CDM) model of galaxy formation, as the properties of most observed dwarf galaxies contrast with models based on the dominance of CDM. Here, hydrodynamical simulations (assuming the presence of CDM) are reported in which the analogues of dwarf galaxies — bulgeless and with shallow central dark-matter profiles — arise naturally.

    • F. Governato
    • , C. Brook
    •  & P. Madau

  • Letter |

    Existing models of type Ia supernovae generally explain their observed properties, with the exception of the sub-luminous 1991bg-like supernovae. It has long been suspected that the merger of two white dwarfs could give rise to a type Ia event, but simulations so far have failed to produce an explosion. Here, a simulation of the merger of two equal-mass white dwarfs is presented that leads to a sub-luminous explosion; it requires a single common-envelope phase and component masses of about 0.9 solar masses.

    • Rüdiger Pakmor
    • , Markus Kromer
    •  & Wolfgang Hillebrandt

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