Simulations in motion
Explore shear-driven turbulence, magnetic-field stretching, and supernova remnants. Choose a movie below or rotate a remnant in three dimensions.
Start with the two three-dimensional tours, then explore the evolving density, magnetic-field stretching, and vorticity. Use full screen to inspect fine structures and panel labels.
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Travel through the density structure of a KelvināHelmholtz simulation.
A flight through the density field at a fixed time, $t/t_\Delta \simeq 200$, in a Mach 1 KelvināHelmholtz simulation with $\mathrm{Re}_\Delta = 16384$ and $\mathrm{Pm}_\Delta = 1$. Color shows the logarithmic density contrast, $\ln(\rho/\rho_0)$.
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Follow the magnetic-field geometry through the same density snapshot.
Magnetic-field lines shown as white tubes over the density field at $t/t_\Delta \simeq 200$, with Mach 1, $\mathrm{Re}_\Delta = 16384$, and $\mathrm{Pm}_\Delta = 1$. Color shows $\ln(\rho/\rho_0)$.
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Compare density and field-aligned stretching in two perpendicular planes.
Density and magnetic-field stretching in the $xy$ and $yz$ planes of the Mach 1 simulation. The density panels show $\rho/\langle\rho\rangle_0$, while the adjacent panels show the dimensionless stretching rate, $t_\Delta \hat{B}_i\hat{B}_j\partial_j u_i$. The Reynolds number is $\mathrm{Re}_\Delta = 16384$ and the magnetic Prandtl number is $\mathrm{Pm}_\Delta = 1$.
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Compare ten Reynolds numbers in a slice through the shear layers.
Vorticity magnitude in the $xy$ plane near $z/L = 0$. The ten panels compare Reynolds numbers from $\mathrm{Re}_\Delta = 64$ to $16,\!384$ at Mach 1 and $\mathrm{Pm}_\Delta = 1$. Color shows $t_\Delta |\nabla\times\boldsymbol{u}|$.
The sequence extends to $t/t_\Delta=1,\!000$. The $\mathrm{Re}_\Delta=64$ and $4,\!096$ panels hold their final saved states at $t/t_\Delta=700$ and $943.1$, respectively; the other eight runs reach $1,\!000$.
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View the same Reynolds-number sequence from a perpendicular direction.
Vorticity magnitude in the $yz$ plane near $x/L = -1/4$. The ten panels compare $\mathrm{Re}_\Delta = 64$ to $16,\!384$ at Mach 1 and $\mathrm{Pm}_\Delta = 1$. Color shows $t_\Delta |\nabla\times\boldsymbol{u}|$.
The sequence extends to $t/t_\Delta=1,\!000$. The $\mathrm{Re}_\Delta=64$ and $4,\!096$ panels hold their final saved states at $t/t_\Delta=700$ and $943.1$, respectively; the other eight runs reach $1,\!000$.
Cooling remnants extracted from galactic disk simulations in Beattie et al. (2025).
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Compare baroclinic sources in blue with vorticity in red.
An animated version of Figure 2 from Beattie (2025), submitted to ApJL, where I derive the power spectrum relation between a baroclinic source and an incompressible turbulence spectrum, which has direct applications for supernova-driven turbulence. Each panel is a supernova remnant, and the slider shows between the baroclinic magnitude (blue) and the vorticity magnitude (red).
Choose a remnant, compare its fields and vector overlays, and explore their probability density functions.
Interactive scientific explorer
Compare remnant structure, vector fields, and the distributions beneath them.
Each remnant loads on demand. Output labels identify snapshots, not a time sequence of the same remnant.
SNR 26 Ā· vorticity magnitude and arrows
The preset loads about 5ā7 MB. Drag to rotate Ā· scroll or pinch to zoom.
Ready to explore. The simulation data load when you open the viewer.
The original preset follows the 95th percentile of the baroclinic-source magnitude, smoothed over 0.8 voxels. Full-volume mode extracts a new isosurface at the chosen field value across the whole 128Ā³ cutout, including material outside the remnant mask. The level is divided by the fieldās interior mean or RMS. Smoothing changes only the shape field. Geometry stays fixed when the color field changes. These diagnostic isosurfaces are not fitted shock fronts. Classical marching cubes can resolve ambiguous cells differently from the original preset.
Density, pressure, and the temperature proxy P/Ļ are divided by their mean within the remnant mask. Vorticity and baroclinic-source magnitudes are divided by their RMS within that mask. These positive fields use logarithmic colors, limited to their surface 2ndā98th percentiles. Values outside the scale saturate at the end colors. Physical-unit conversions are not assumed.
Here b = āĻ Ć āP / ĻĀ² is the physical baroclinic source. The signed quantity Ļ Ā· b shows the baroclinic contribution to the evolution of |Ļ|Ā²/2. Positive values reinforce existing vorticity, while negative values oppose it. It is one contribution to the enstrophy budget. The alignment view separates direction from magnitude.
Arrows sample the selected vector at well-spaced locations on the current surface. Full-volume mode uses farthest-point sampling from up to 4,000 candidate vertices. Equal-length arrows show direction. With magnitude scaling enabled, lengths are proportional to magnitude up to the 95th percentile of up to 800 sampled vectors. Velocity is shown in the simulation frame, without subtracting remnant motion. Vorticity arrows mark rotation axes, not flow trajectories. Increasing transparency reveals arrows behind the surface but blends the surface colors.
PDFs span the full finite range of the selected quantity, including values beyond the color limits. Surface PDFs update with the geometry and approximate area weighting by assigning one third of each triangleās area to each vertex. Interior PDFs use equal-volume cells in the remnant mask. Each PDF integrates to one over its included samples. Logarithmic quantities have a density per unit logāā. Vector PDFs use the magnitude of the interpolated vector and its interior RMS. Cutaways, camera views, and arrow counts do not filter these distributions.
Full-volume data retain the original float32 values with lossless compression. Temperature is reconstructed as P/Ļ and magnitudes from the saved vector components. Colors and vectors use trilinear interpolation on the original grid. Fast geometry samples the smoothed shape field on a 64Ā³ grid spanning the same cutout. Surface PDFs describe that displayed mesh. The slice is sampled at 128Ā² points, and its contour lines use linear interpolation within triangles. Undefined color values appear gray.