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Thursday,
26 Feb 2026 |
Video-Recording for any system with MP4-support - Video.mp4 (ca. 351 Mb) |
15:15 – 16:10 |
"Recent
Progress on Simulating the Explosive Death of Massive Stars"
Prof.
Evan O´Connor
(Department
of Astronomy at Stockholm University)
Abstract:
Most massive stars end their lives in
spectacular explosions known as core-collapse
supernovae. These events shape the cosmos:
they forge and disperse the elements
essential for stars, planets, and life;
they regulate galaxy evolution; and they give
birth to neutron stars and black holes,
linking stellar death to the gravitational-wave
universe. Despite their importance, the
physical mechanism that powers these
explosions has long been one of the
central unsolved problems in theoretical
astrophysics. The first seconds after core
collapse involve an intricate interplay of
gravity, neutrino radiation, turbulence,
and magnetic fields across a vast range of
spatial and temporal scales. Capturing
this multi-physics environment in a
self-consistent framework has posed a
long-standing computational challenge,
but there are hints of light at the end of
the tunnel. In this talk, I will present recent
progress enabled by detailed 1D, 2D, and
3D neutrino-radiation magnetohydrodynamic
simulations of core-collapse supernovae.
These simulations follow the last stages of
evolution of massive stars, the collapse
of the core, the emergence of hydrodynamic
instabilities including neutrino-driven
convection and turbulence, the onset of the
explosion, and the post explosion
evolution. In particular, I will highlight the progress
we have made over the recent years in
studying some of the most extreme core-collapse
events including black hole and magnetar
forming cases. Finally, I will outline implications
for multimessenger astronomy, including
predictions for neutrino and gravitational-wave
signals, and highlight open challenges for
the next generation of supernova simulations.
About the Speaker:
Evan O’Connor is an Associate Professor in
the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm
University. He specializes in
computational modeling of the death of massive stars,
core-collapse supernovae. He has a particular interest in connecting
the physics at small
scales, the neutrino and nuclear physics,
to the observables of supernovae, the
multimessenger signals, nucleosynthesis,
and the final compact object properties.
O’Connor earned his B.Sc. from the
University of Prince Edward Island in Canada and
his Ph.D. from the California Institute of
Technology in 2012. He completed postdoctoral
fellowships at the Canadian Institute for
Theoretical Astrophysics and a Hubble Fellowship
at North Carolina State University before
joining Stockholm University in 2017.