Computer simulations confirm supernova mechanism in three dimensions

Research report (imported) 2015 - Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

Authors
Melson, Tobias; Janka, Hans-Thomas
Departments
„Stellare Astrophysik”
DOI
Summary
Latest three-dimensional computer simulations are closing in on the solution of an decades-old problem: how do massive stars die in gigantic supernova explosions? Since the mid-1960s, astronomers thought that neutrinos, elementary particles that are radiated in huge numbers by the newly formed neutron star, could be the ones to energize the blast wave that disrupts the star. However, only now the power of modern supercomputers has made it possible to actually demonstrate the viability of this neutrino-driven mechanism.

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