Passive Scalars

An arbitrary number of passive scalars which will be advected with the flow can be added to any simulation, using

% configure --with-nscalars=#

where # is an integer specifying the number if scalars desired.

These scalars can be used to follow mixing in the flow. In addition, the Userwork_in_loop() function in the problem generator can be used to add source and sink terms to the advection equations for these scalars. This allows chemical or ionization/recombination models to be added (albeit only at first-order, using operator splitting).

The scalars are stored as an array s[n] in the Conserved Variable Structure which in turn is stored in the Grid Structure in the file /src/athena.h

Outputs such as binary and vtk dumps will automatically include all passive scalars. Images or outputs of specific members of the scalars array can be added using User-defined Output Variables.

Not all Riemann solvers have been extended to work with passive scalars. The Roe, HLLC, and HLLD solvers work with passive scalars.