lecturers

Manos Chatzopoulos:

I am a theoretical and computational astrophysicist with broad research interests ranging from massive stellar evolution to supernovae and peculiar transient phenomena. I am utilizing modern computational tools, like the stellar evolution code MESA, to study the evolution of massive (> 8 Msun) and very massive (> 100 Msun) stars including the effects of rotational and magnetic instabilities as well as binary interaction effects. I am particularly interested in the very latest stages of stellar evolution, seconds to a few years prior to core-collapse, where multi-dimensional effects due to vigorous convection can drive the internal structure of the star away from spherical symmetry and even change the initial conditions and susceptibility to explosion. On that front, I have extensively used and expanded the multi-dimensional hydrodynamics code FLASH and run it on parallel computing systems to study the very final moments of massive stars in detail.

A main focus of my work has been the study of the new class of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and related luminous transients, a very diverse class of events that reach peak luminosities in excess of 10-1000 times that of thermonuclear Type Ia SN. I have used analytical and computational hydrodynamics and radiation transfer methods to study and understand the mechanisms that can power such extreme explosions. These include modeling the light-curve evolution of these events as well as their spectra. In particular, I have studied strong supernova ejecta – circumstellar interaction setups both in the hydrogen-rich (SLSN-II) and hydrogen-poor (SLSN-I) regime and explored the relevance of the elusive Pair Instability Supernovae (PISNe) to these spectacular events.

In addition, I am passionate about coding and algorithmic development, data visualization and open source science. My Lecture Materials

Catherine Deibel

My main research interests are in experimental nuclear astrophysics. In general, nuclear astrophysics is the study of how nuclei heavier than those created in the Big Bang (namely ^1,2H, ^3,4He and small amounts of Li) are synthesized in various stellar environments. From an experimental point of view, this consists of studying nuclei and nuclear reactions in the laboratory that play important roles in nucleosynthesis. My particular interests lie in the processes that occur in explosive stellar environments, such as classical novae and type I X-ray bursts (XRBs). In these types of thermonuclear explosions, extremely high temperatures and densities are reached and radioactive nuclei that are proton rich are created through processes where protons and α particles fuse with existing nuclei. These reactions are studied in the laboratory using accelerated particle beams incident on targets of stable nuclei. The products resulting from the reactions are detected and identified using various detector systems, including silicon detectors and spectrographs. Currently, the field is advancing rapidly with the advent of radioactive ion beams, which for the first time have allowed us to study some of these reactions that involve radioactive nuclei.

My experimental program is primarily based at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) where we are studying (α,p) reactions (important in XRBs) directly and (p,γ) reactions (important in novae) indirectly using radioactive ion beams. Experimental work is also carried out various other facilities around the country and the world such as the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, TRIUMF laboratory, the Technische Universität München, and others. Locally, at LSU we have a laboratory devoted to detector and equipment construction and development to further our experimental campaigns at outside facilities. We are currently looking for interested and motivated graduate students and postdocs to work in our group on all aspects of these projects.My Lecture Materials

Robert Farmer

I am a Post doctoral scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. I am also a senior developer for the MESA stellar evolution code. My research interests include the structure and evolution of massive single and binary stars, their stellar explosions, and their nucleosynthetic outputs. My work has also included studying the effect of nuclear physics uncertainties on the formation of Black holes, as detectable by LIGO/Virgo providing new ways to place constraints on uncertain nuclear reaction rates. My website My Lecture Materials

Carl Fields:

I am an RPF Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Computational Physics and Methods (CCS-2) and Eulerian Codes (XCP-2) Divisions. I am broadly interested in computational and nuclear astrophysics of massive stars, theirexplosions and the multi-messenger signals they produce. My Website My Lecture Materials

Amber Lauer-Coles (lead) :2014 LaSPACE GSRA award

I am a Research Associate studying Intentional Forensics & Nuclear Astrophysics with the NNDC @ Brookhaven National Laboratory. In Dec. of 2017 I completed a PhD in Physics at Lousiana State University under Catherine Deibel in the LSUNucastro lab. I attained a B.S in math in ’07, a M.S. in physics in 2011, both at Portland State University as a member of the Sanchez Nano-develpment lab. I am also an amateur artist, singer, and musician. My dream is to travel the world and into space, and I am inspired by science fiction like Star Trek, Star Wars, and Contact.

Member of the American Physical Society, Sigma Pi Sigma (the Physics Honor Society), and the Association for Computing Machinery.

My Website. My lecture materials.

Bradley Munson (Teaching Assistant): SMART Scholarship Award 2020

I am a graduate student at Louisiana State University where I am doing research in computational astrophysics. I obtained my B.S. in Physics from North Central College in Naperville, IL in 2017. My current research involves an exotic type of giant star called an R Coronae Borealis star (RCB). I use a stellar evolution code (MESA) to evolve these stars and study their surface abundances in order to match observations of these stars. I initialize these models either by an ad-hoc procedure called “stellar engineering” or mapping from a 3D hydrodynamics merger code. I also enjoy writing small but useful Python functions to further my research or automate some tedious aspects.