PhD position: Simulating the explosions of massive stars

Core-collapse supernovae mark the death of massive stars: In an evolved star that has gone through the various burning stages, its iron core eventually collapses, leaving behind a neutron star, while the envelope is expelled in a violent and very bright explosion. These explosions are fascinating laboratories for matter under extreme conditions and cosmic furnaces that make many of the chemical elements that are the building block of planets like ours. Supernovae are also promising sources of neutrinos and gravitational waves, messengers that come directly from the innermost few hundreds kilometres of the collapse star and could allow us a direct glimpse at the supernova engine once such an explosion occurs within our Milky Way.

It has only recently become possible to successfully simulate such supernova explosions in three dimensions based on first principles. Many questions about these phenomena are still not fully unanswered: What makes supernovae explode? How do the explosion energy, the remnant mass, and the composition of the ejecta depend on the progenitor? Do some supernovae produce the heavy neutron-rich elements (like gold and the actinides)? Which progenitors form black holes? How do extremely energetic “hypernovae” come about?

Understanding these explosions requires sophisticated simulation codes. In this project, you will have the opportunity to contribute to a state-of- the-art relativistic radiation hydrodynamics code that has been successfully used model 3D supernova explosion driven by neutrino heating. Depending on your abilities and inclinations, you will add/improve modules to better treat the (magneto-)hydrodynamics, the radiation transport, or the neutrino and nuclear physics in the code. This will prepare you to solve some of the many open problems that current supernova simulations still face.

Students interested in high-performance computing will acquire first-hand experience with modern supercomputers during the course of their PhD. This is a computational project suited for students with a background in astronomy, applied mathematics, or nuclear/particle physics. Experience with computational fluid dynamics is advantageous.

For inquiries, please contact Dr Bernhard Mueller (bernhard.mueller@monash.edu).