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MAESTROeX
What MAESTROeX is
MAESTROeX is free, BSD-licensed software for astrophysical hydrodynamics on Linux or self-hosted systems. It models low Mach number stratified flows, including convection in stars and atmospheres. The method filters sound waves while retaining relevant compressibility effects, allowing larger timesteps for low-Mach simulations. The code solves second-order hydrodynamics in 2D plane-parallel and 3D spherical or plane-parallel geometries on adaptive mesh-refinement grids. Physics options include arbitrary equations of state, general nuclear reaction networks, and implicit thermal diffusion. The main repository includes a gamma-law equation of state and a general-composition non-reacting network; additional choices are in Microphysics. Built on AMReX, it uses MPI and tiled OpenMP parallelism and is described as scaling from one to thousands of cores. Outputs in BoxLib/AMReX format work with yt, VisIt, and amrvis. Plotfiles record environment details and code hashes, while nightly regression checks compare stored benchmarks. Applications include Type Ia supernovae, X-ray bursts, and stellar-evolution convection. A key constraint is keeping total pressure close to background pressure.
Who it suits
MAESTROeX suits researchers and developers modeling low-Mach astrophysical flows on Linux or self-hosted computing systems. It is relevant when adaptive grids, parallel execution, and scientific output inspection are required.
What it does well
- Free and BSD-licensed
- Supports 2D and 3D geometries
- Adaptive mesh refinement
- MPI and OpenMP parallelism
- Outputs work with yt, VisIt, and amrvis
What to know first
- Requires Linux or self-hosted deployment
- Low-Mach method requires near-background pressure
- Setup requires cloning dependencies and building executables
- Focused on astrophysical hydrodynamics
Verdict
MAESTROeX provides specialized low-Mach astrophysical simulation with adaptive grids and large-scale parallel support. Its pressure assumption and build dependencies make the documented scope important to evaluate first.
Facts from MAESTROeX's own pages
- Adaptive grids
- It solves low Mach number hydrodynamics on an adaptive mesh refinement grid. · amrex-astro.github.io, 8 Oct 2026
- Adaptive mesh
- It supports adaptive mesh refinement. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Assessment tools
- No · amrex-astro.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
- Authoring tools
- No · amrex-astro.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
- Data export
- Yes · amrex-astro.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
- Delivery mode
- desktop · amrex-astro.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
- Dependencies
- The getting-started instructions clone MAESTROeX, AMReX, and Microphysics repositories and build a problem executable with make. · amrex-astro.github.io, 8 Oct 2026
- Development
- Development takes place in a public GitHub repository, and contributions are welcomed through pull requests. · amrex-astro.github.io, 8 Oct 2026
- Hydrodynamics
- It supports second-order hydrodynamics in 2D plane-parallel and 3D spherical and plane-parallel geometries. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Lesson library
- No · amrex-astro.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
- License
- MAESTROeX is BSD-licensed and hosted on GitHub. · amrex-astro.github.io, 8 Oct 2026
- License and development
- MAESTROeX is BSD-licensed, hosted on GitHub, and accepts contributions through pull requests. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Low Mach method
- It filters out sound waves while retaining relevant compressibility effects, allowing larger timesteps for low Mach number flows. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Microphysics
- The main repository includes a gamma-law equation of state and a general-composition non-reacting network, while additional equations of state and reaction networks are in the Microphysics repository. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Notable limit
- The site says the low Mach number stellar-flow method requires total pressure to remain close to the background pressure. · amrex-astro.github.io, 8 Oct 2026
- Notable limitation
- The project states that its low Mach number stellar-flow method requires pressure to remain close to the background pressure. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Offline access
- Yes · amrex-astro.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
- Parallel computing
- It uses MPI and OpenMP parallelization and is built on the AMReX adaptive mesh refinement library. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Performance
- The code uses MPI and tiled OpenMP parallelism and is described as scaling from 1 to 10,000s of cores. · amrex-astro.github.io, 8 Oct 2026
- Physics
- It supports arbitrary equations of state, general nuclear reaction networks, and implicit thermal diffusion. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- MAESTROeX is an astrophysical hydrodynamics code for modeling low Mach number stratified flows, including convection in stars and atmospheres. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Regression checks
- A nightly regression test suite checks outputs bit-for-bit against stored benchmarks for many problem setups, including science runs. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Reproducibility
- Plotfiles record build and run environment details and source code versions to help recover the code base used for previous results. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Research applications
- The code has been used to study Type Ia supernovae, X-ray bursts, and convection in stellar evolution. · amrex-astro.github.io, 9 Oct 2026
Where MAESTROeX stands on Freedom251
- Physics Simulation Software#88 of 89