Stony Brook University
7:30 pm Friday, May 05, 2023
on-line via Zoom
How To Simulate A Star
Prof. Michael Zingale
When we look at a star, we see its outer layers -- the processes at work deep in its interior generating the immense energy are hidden from our view. Furthermore, the timescale for stars to evolve is much longer than human history, so we only see snapshots of stars in different phases of their evolution. If we want to understand what is happening inside of a star and what its fate will be, we need to build a mathematical model. These models are complex, so we turn to computers to solve the detailed set of equations that combine nuclear reactions, radiation transport, fluid motions, and more. In this talk, I'll describe some of the details of how these codes work as well as how the community as a whole develops and manages these complex codes.
Prof. Zingale is a Professor of Astronomy in Stony Brook's department of Physics & Astronomy. He joined the Department in 2006, coming most recently from a postdoctoral position at the University of California at Santa Cruz. His research is in modeling stellar explosions and the basic physics therein, and developing algorithms for performing supercomputer simulations of astrophysical fluid flow.
