How does a supernova explosion occur, and why can the death of a massive star leave behind a neutron star or a black hole? Prof. Hans-Thomas Janka from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics will discuss these phenomena at Wrocław Tech.

The renowned German astrophysicist will be a guest of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. His lecture, entitled “Supernova Explosions of Massive Stars: A Multi-Physics Problem with Great Relevance Beyond Astronomy”, will take place on Tuesday, 10 November, at 1:15 pm at the Wrocław Tech Congress Centre (building D-20, 8 Janiszewskiego Street).

The event is open to everyone. Advance registration is required. The registration link will be available soon.

The event is co-organised by the Wrocław Knowledge Hub of Academia Europaea.

Cosmic explosions that matter far beyond astronomy

The final stage in the life of a massive star is the violent collapse of its core. This process produces a neutron star or a black hole and may be accompanied by a powerful supernova explosion.

These phenomena play a crucial role in the evolution of galaxies and their enrichment with chemical elements. They also serve as natural laboratories for particle and nuclear physics. The explosions themselves, as well as subsequent collisions between the compact objects they create, are sources of electromagnetic radiation, neutrinos and gravitational waves.

Modern three-dimensional simulations carried out using supercomputers confirm that most supernova explosions are powered by energy transferred by neutrinos. Although current models can explain many of the observed phenomena, they still leave researchers with a number of unanswered questions.

During his lecture, Prof. Hans-Thomas Janka will present the foundations of supernova explosion theory, the latest research directions and the problems currently being investigated by astrophysicists. He will also demonstrate how this research brings together astronomy, particle physics and nuclear physics.

A pioneer of computer simulations of supernovae

Prof. Hans-Thomas Janka is a staff scientist and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching. He is also an adjunct professor at the Technical University of Munich, a position he has held since 2016.

His research focuses on the theory of supernova explosions and neutron star formation, neutrino and nuclear astrophysics, numerical hydrodynamics and neutrino transport modelling. Together with his team, he pioneered multidimensional simulations of neutron star mergers and core-collapse supernovae.

For his achievements in this field, he received the Karl Schwarzschild Medal from the German Astronomical Society in 2022. He has also been awarded the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society, the Heinz Billing Prize for Scientific Computing and the Hanno and Ruth Roelin Prize for Scientific Publishing.

As part of an ERC Advanced Grant, he investigated the relationship between the structure of massive stars and the mechanisms driving their explosions. His research involved three-dimensional computer simulations whose results were compared with astronomical observations.

This subject remains the main focus of his research group.