Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Using An Astrophysical Model To Characterize Nuclear Dust, Anita N. Dunsmore

Theses and Dissertations

Dust clouds resulting from nuclear explosions are complex phenomena, and knowledge on how they form is lacking. Noting the similarities between supernovae and nuclear explosions led to the concept of modeling a nuclear dust cloud using a supernova simulation. MOCASSIN uses a Monte Carlo approach to model photons traveling through a dust cloud, allowing the cloud's characteristics to be discovered by comparing an observed spectrum to a calculated one and then changing input values to make the spectra match. Data files describing two nuclear fireballs of varying yields were created and analyzed using MOCASSIN, but yielded zero energy spectra. After …