Star Formation with Adaptive Mesh Refinement Radiation Hydrodynamics

Understand

I provide a pedagogic review of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) radiation hydrodynamics (RHD) methods and codes used in simulations of star formation, at a level suitable for researchers who are not computational experts.

• I begin with a brief overview of the types of RHD processes that are most important to star formation, and then I formally introduce the equations of RHD and the approximations one uses to render them computationally tractable.
• I discuss strategies for solving these approximate equations on adaptive grids, with particular emphasis on identifying the main advantages and disadvantages of various approximations and numerical approaches.
• Finally, I conclude by discussing areas ripe for improvement.