Authors: Robert A. Piontek*, Oliver Gressel*, and Udo Ziegler*
We compare the NIRVANA and ZEUS MHD codes by performing identical
simulations of which the main ingredients are a radiative cooling function
and turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Our
motivation is as follows: the neutral component of the ISM is characterized
by cold clouds embedded in a warm ambient medium, and the transition
between these two components can be quite sharp. Modelling these types of
features can be computationally challenging, and no previous comparison
which includes a radiative cooling function has been published. Our goal
is to assess to what extent the numerical scheme can impact the mass and
volume fractions of the ISM phases, temperature distributions, and other
relevant quantities.
*Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam