Atomistic Simulations of White Dwarf Dynamics

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Computer Science/Physics, 2015-16

Liaison(s): Jim Glosli, Michael Murillo, Dave Richards ’92
Advisor(s): Gregory Lyzenga
Students(s): Phillip Diffley (PM), Daniel Houck, Lennart Rudolph, Skyler Williams

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) wishes to better understand the liquid-crystal interface found in white dwarfs. Using LLNL’s massively parallel molecular dynamics simulation code (ddcMD) along with their Blue Gene Q supercomputer, the HMC team will simulate a small region of the interface to shed light on impurity sedimentation and mixing.