Three Dimensional Modeling of Core-Collapse Supernovae

核心坍缩超新星戏剧性地宣告了大质量恒星的死亡和中子星、脉冲星和黑洞的诞生。它们是自然界中大多数重元素产生的地方。作为核物理实验室，核心坍缩超新星产生宇宙中最高的密度和能量，在这个剧烈的过程中，核物理学、湍流流体力学、辐射输运和中微子物理学的结合决定了恒星是否爆炸以及如何爆炸。然而，到目前为止，爆炸的精确机理这一谜题还没有解开。该团队的一个论点是，在过去几十年里，阻碍进展的根本障碍可能是缺乏获得代码、计算机和资源的途径，无法正确地模拟崩溃现象。这可以解释为什么自20世纪60年代以来，在证明强大的爆炸机制方面进展缓慢得令人痛苦。然而，有了这个团队最近开发的最先进的计算机代码，现在可能是时候对天体物理学中的这个核心问题进行最后的攻击了。进入完全三维的中微子辐射流体动力学，并采用最好的中微子和核物理学，可能是演示和理解一般核心坍缩超新星爆炸机制的关键。由于这些超新星模拟很容易向公众和学校推广，该团队计划为公众讲座和网络传播制作视频产品。核心坍缩超新星探测物质的核和粒子物理——超核密度、高温和同位旋极端。本项目支持国家自然科学基金实验核物理项目，研究天体物理爆炸中的核合成、中微子的性质和核物质的状态方程。数值模拟与ofFRIB和FAIR低能项目、RHIC和lhc的高能实验、JPARC、GSI、JLAB和NICA的超子-超子和超子-核子项目直接相关。此外，核心坍缩超新星问题的解决方案将有利于美国和世界各地从事确定元素起源、测量引力波（LIGO）以及根据恒星核合成解释实验室核反应速率测量等项目的观察者和仪器设计师的持续努力。

Core-collapse supernovae dramatically announce the death of massive starsand the birth of neutron stars, pulsars, and black holes. They are thesites where most of the heavy elements of Nature are created. Viewed as anuclear physics laboratory, core-collapse supernovae produce some of thehighest densities and energies in the Universe, and during this violentprocess a combination of nuclear physics, turbulent hydrodynamics,radiation transport, and neutrino physics determines whether and how thestar explodes. However, to date the puzzle of the precise mechanism ofexplosion has not been cracked. A thesis of this team is that afundamental impediment to progress over the last few decades may have beenthe lack of access to codes, computers, and resources with which toproperly simulate the collapse phenomenon. This could explain theagonizingly slow march since the 1960's towards demonstrating a robustmechanism of explosion. However, with the state-of-the-art computer codethis team has recently developed, the time may now be ripe to make a finalassault on this central problem in astrophysics. Going to fullythree-dimensional neutrino radiation-hydrodynamics and employing the bestneutrino and nuclear physics may together be the keys to demonstrating andunderstanding the generic core-collapse supernova explosion mechanism.Since these supernova simulations lend themselves easily to public andschool outreach, the team plans to generate video products for publictalks and web-based distribution.Core-collapse supernovae probe the nuclear and particle physics of matterat super-nuclear density, high temperature, and at extremes of isospin.This project supports the experimental nuclear physics program of the NSFby exploring nucleosynthesis in astrophysical explosions, the propertiesof the neutrino, and the equation of state of nuclear matter. The numerical simulations connect directly with the lower-energy programs ofFRIB and FAIR, the high-energy experiments carried out at RHIC and theLHC, and the hyperon-hyperon and hyperon-nucleon programs of JPARC, GSI,JLAB, and NICA. In addition, a solution to the core-collapse supernovaproblem will benefit ongoing efforts of observers and instrumentdesigners in the U.S. and around the world engaged in projects todetermine the origin of the elements, measure gravitational waves (LIGO),and interpret laboratory nuclear reaction rate measurements in light ofstellar nucleosynthesis.