Monte-Carlo Simulations of Radiation Mediated Shocks

Radiation-mediated shocks (RMS) play a key role in shaping the early emission observed in various transients, such as shock breakout in supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and neutron star mergers. Predicting the observed spectrum requires detailed calculations of the shock structure and thermodynamic state that account properly for the shock microphysics. In this talk, I will present the results of self-consistent Monte Carlo simulations of RMS, which yield the shock structure and emission for a broad range of shock velocities, from subrelativistic (βsh = 0.1) to highly relativistic (Γsh = 20). I will also discuss the implications to the observations.