Astrophysics at the Extremes: The Death of Massive Stars
Title: Astrophysics at the Extremes: The Death of Massive Stars
DNr: NAISS 2024/4-14
Project Type: NAISS Large Storage
Principal Investigator: Evan Patrick O'Connor <evan.oconnor@astro.su.se>
Affiliation: Stockholms universitet
Duration: 2025-01-01 – 2026-01-01
Classification: 10305
Homepage: http://www.evanoc.com
Keywords:

Abstract

Due to the extreme energies involved in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), they are a cornerstone of astronomy and astrophysics. They are the site where neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs) are formed and, therefore, a gateway to our study of high-energy astrophysics. The incredible amount of energy released in these events drives the evolution of galaxies; and the elements forged and dispersed by the explosion are the building blocks of life as we know it. Despite the importance of CCSNe in astrophysics and over 60 years of intense numerical effort, their inner workings are only now becoming clear. Our advanced understanding of CCSNe is due to our ability to accurately simulate these events on modern supercomputers with massively parallel, multidimensional, neutrino-radiation magnetohydrodynamical simulations. Today, the general consensus is that we understand the basics of the mechanism behind typical CCSNe. The associated large compute allocation has two major focuses. First, it has a special emphasis on the central engines of extreme supernovae. Extreme supernovae, likely those involved in producing black hole or extremely bright and rare transients such as super-luminous supernovae or gamma-ray burst supernovae are relatively (compared to typical supernovae) poorly understood. Even rare transients will be well observed in upcoming all-sky surveys like LSST, and therefore solidifying the underlying theory is critical. Second, in it we also place focus on further understanding supernovae by carrying out long-term simulations of the explosion. The aim is to eventually predict the electromagnetic signature of these events. In both cases, we will achieve our research goals with state-of-the-art multidimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations using the FLASH code. This large storage allocation (the first for the PI since exceeding the medium storage scale) is in support of the associated large compute proposal (NAISS 2024/3-32). In the associated compute proposal we are proposing to build upon the results of our previous allocation with the following two computational work packages. CWP #1: 3D neutrino-radiation (magneto)hydrodynamic simulations of core-collapse in extreme progenitor stars with the aim of connecting the core physics to observations of extreme transients. Storage Request: 48 TB CWP #2: 3D hydrodynamic simulations of developing explosions until and past the shock breakout phase with the aim of self-consistently evolving the multidimensional dynamics until homologous expansion is reached. Storage Request: 18 TB Legacy Needs: Storage Request: 24 TB In total we request a storage allocation of 90 TB