Three-Dimensional Simulations 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的诞生。这些超新星发生在大质量恒星的铁核坍缩成中子星的时候。中子星以中微子的形式剧烈爆炸，释放出它的引力结合能，在几秒钟内，它比可观测到的宇宙中的其他部分都要亮。作为一个核物理实验室，核心坍缩超新星产生了现代宇宙中最高密度的物质和能量。然而，这次爆炸的精确机制还没有被明确地确定下来，这个50年来的难题是理论天体物理学中尚未解决的核心问题之一。超新星理论是许多物理学的混合体，代表了现代科学中最复杂的计算问题之一。超级计算机，如蓝水，对于模拟和理解超新星事件和中子星诞生的演变至关重要。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）和其他重要物理实验项目的观察者和仪器设计师的持续努力。该项目将对核心坍缩超新星进行三维辐射/流体动力学模拟，目的是限制并最终确定爆炸机制。在这个爆炸过程中，高密度核物理、多维流体力学、辐射输运和中微子物理的结合决定了恒星是否爆炸以及如何爆炸。该项目将使用新开发和测试的代码FORNAX，结合最先进的微物理和方法，具有出色的可扩展性，每个任务超过100,000个内核。各种观测诊断，如中微子和引力波特征和剩余中子星质量和踢，将为所有计算模型导出。超新星爆炸及其产物是元素起源的核心，脉冲星和黑洞的诞生，星系和星际介质的动力学，对这种爆炸的基本理论理解将为解释来自其他平台的数据提供信息，其中包括美国宇航局的钱德拉x射线天文台，哈勃太空望远镜，Swift， NuStar和即将到来的詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Core-collapse supernovae dramatically announce the death of massive stars and the birth of neutron stars. These supernovae occur when the iron core of a massive star collapses to a neutron star. Releasing its gravitational binding energy in a violent explosion as neutrinos, the resulting neutron star, for a few seconds, outshines the rest of the observable universe. Viewed as a nuclear physics laboratory, core-collapse supernovae produce the highest densities of matter and energy in the modern universe. However, the precise mechanism of this explosion has not been unambiguously pinned down and this fifty-year old conundrum is one of the central remaining unsolved problems in theoretical astrophysics. Supernova theory is an amalgam of much of physics, and represents one of the most complex computational problems of modern science. Supercomputers, such as Blue Waters, are essential to make progress in simulating and understanding the evolution of the supernova event and neutron star birth. A solution to the core-collapse supernova problem would benefit ongoing efforts of observers and instrument designers in the U.S. and around the world engaged in projects to determine the origin of the elements, measure gravitational waves (LIGO), and other important physics experiments.The project will conduct three-dimensional radiation/hydrodynamic simulations of core-collapse supernovae with the goal of constraining, and ultimately determining, the mechanism of explosion. During this explosion process, a combination of high-density nuclear physics, multi-dimensional hydrodynamics, radiation transport, and neutrino physics determines whether and how the star explodes. The project will use the newly developed and tested code FORNAX incorporating state-of-the-art microphysics and methodologies, with excellent scalability to beyond 100,000 cores per tasks. Various observational diagnostics, such as neutrino and gravitational-wave signatures and residual neutron star masses and kicks, will be derived for all models calculated. Supernova explosions and their products are central to the origin of the elements, the birth of pulsars and black holes, and the dynamics of galaxies and the interstellar medium, and a fundamental theoretical understanding of such explosions will inform the interpretation of data derived from, among other platforms, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, Swift, NuStar, and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.