Experiments in Computational Stellar Astrophysics

astrophysics, physics, applied mathematics, statistics, computational science, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty quantification

Research Mentor: Dr. Tomasz Plewa,
Department, College, Affiliation: Scientific Computing, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: tplewa@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email: tplewa@fsu

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: mathematics, physics, statistics, computer science, engineering
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Not participating in the Roundtable

Project Description

Motivated by observations of supernova remnants such as SN 1987A or Tycho, we are investigating links between the supernova progenitor structure, instabilities developing during the explosion process, and characteristics of emerging young supernova remnants. The starting point for such investigations are stellar evolution studies of supernova progenitors.

From practical point of view, stellar evolution calculations require solving a set of coupled, nonlinear ordinary or partial differential equations. In this project, we will be using the MESA code,

http://mesa.sourceforge.net/

to solve the required evolutionary equations. We will obtain a series of stellar models of single and binary stars, and assess sensitivity of the stellar structure to various stellar parameters. These models will subsequently be used as input to supernova explosion codes such as
Agile-IDSA,

http://www.physik.unibas.ch/~liebend/download/index.html

or FLASH,

https://flash.rochester.edu/site/flashcode/

More advanced students may participate in and contribute to the analysis of multiphysics simulation results, such as computing nucleosynthetic yields and obtaining specific characteristics of explosion models.

This project is computationally-oriented and requires practical user knowledge of the Linux/MacOS operating system. In addition, a broader range of topics is available to students fluent with programming languages such as C, C++, Fortran, or Python. Familiarity with simulation data analysis and visualization tools (e.g. Excel, gnuplot) is a plus.

Applications of students who do not have programming skills or do not plan taking a programming class during the first semester of this project are strongly discouraged.

Additional information related to the project can be obtained at

http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~tplewa/Research/index.html#resources

Research Tasks: All the required work can be done with help of student's laptop computers as front ends to departmental computers (connecting via Remote Desktop/Anydesk software), and Zoom for weekly communications. The project tasks involve,
(1) Review text book information about mathematics and physics relevant to problems in stellar evolution.
(2) Familiarize with the Linux operating system. Download, install, and familiarize with the MESA stellar evolution code.
(3) Construct a series of stellar evolution tracks for various stellar masses (Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram).
(4) Present evolution of stellar structure using Kippenhahn's diagrams (see, e.g., https://github.com/orlox/mkipp ).
(5) Study sensitivity of stellar progenitors characteristics or stellar physics phenomena to problem parameters.
(6) Obtain a series of stellar evolution or relevant multiphysics simulations.
(7) Analyze obtained results.
(8) Prepare a poster presenting the project findings.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Recommended: familiarity with the Linux operating system; practical knowledge of MATLAB, Python, or Fortran/C/C++.
Required: interest in and solid basic preparation in the areas of mathematics, physics, or statistics.