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Auteurs principaux: Leary, Hannah, Richie, Helena M., Schneider, Evan
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10082
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author Leary, Hannah
Richie, Helena M.
Schneider, Evan
author_facet Leary, Hannah
Richie, Helena M.
Schneider, Evan
contents Mixing by hydrodynamical instabilities plays a key role in cloud-wind interactions, causing cloud destruction in the adiabatic limit and facilitating cloud survival with efficient radiative cooling. However, the rate of mixing in numerical simulations is sensitive to the smallest resolved scale, and the relationship between resolution and cloud evolution is under-explored. Using a set of cloud-crushing simulations, we investigate the effects of numerical resolution on cloud survival and acceleration. Modeling both adiabatic and radiative cases, in a subsonic and supersonic wind, we find that cloud survival and velocity does depend on the numerical resolution, however, no single resolution requirement can be applied to all scenarios. In the radiative subsonic case, we find that mass growth and acceleration appear converged at only 4 cells per cloud radius. Conversely, in the supersonic regime, we see a clear dependence of cloud destruction and velocity on resolution that is not converged even at 48 cells per cloud radius, implying that accurately capturing cloud destruction may require higher resolution than capturing growth. We also present a simple model illustrating how ram pressure accelerates cool clouds at early times before mixing kicks in as an acceleration mechanism.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_10082
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effects of Numerical Resolution on Simulated Cloud-Wind Interactions
Leary, Hannah
Richie, Helena M.
Schneider, Evan
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Mixing by hydrodynamical instabilities plays a key role in cloud-wind interactions, causing cloud destruction in the adiabatic limit and facilitating cloud survival with efficient radiative cooling. However, the rate of mixing in numerical simulations is sensitive to the smallest resolved scale, and the relationship between resolution and cloud evolution is under-explored. Using a set of cloud-crushing simulations, we investigate the effects of numerical resolution on cloud survival and acceleration. Modeling both adiabatic and radiative cases, in a subsonic and supersonic wind, we find that cloud survival and velocity does depend on the numerical resolution, however, no single resolution requirement can be applied to all scenarios. In the radiative subsonic case, we find that mass growth and acceleration appear converged at only 4 cells per cloud radius. Conversely, in the supersonic regime, we see a clear dependence of cloud destruction and velocity on resolution that is not converged even at 48 cells per cloud radius, implying that accurately capturing cloud destruction may require higher resolution than capturing growth. We also present a simple model illustrating how ram pressure accelerates cool clouds at early times before mixing kicks in as an acceleration mechanism.
title Effects of Numerical Resolution on Simulated Cloud-Wind Interactions
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10082