Stellar Physics and Evolution, Nucleosynthesis, Supernovae, Hydrodynamics

 

General field: structure and evolution of single and binary stars, nucleosynthesis, stellar winds, binary mass transfer and accretion, formation and evolution of circumstellar and circumbinary nebulae, formation of white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, supernovae and gamma-ray bursts.

Hot open questions: What are the effects of rotation on stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis, and circumstellar nebulae? Which binary systems can produce black holes, which gamma-ray bursts? What are the progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae? Which stars synthesise the r-process elements? Which processes can drive mass out of binary systems? What shapes circumstellar nebulae and supernova remnants?

Another hot question...

Possible research project and thesis work: Research work in our group is mostly theoretical and fundamental, but always strongly linked to observations. We try to be at the forefront of research and to produce new, relevant publishable results which will be interesting to a large community of astrophysicists. Small Research Projects and work leading to a Master Thesis can be started any time, PhD work on request.

Senior staff:

John Braithwaite, Robert Izzard (soon), Norbert Langer, Sung-Chul Yoon

Group members:

Ines Brott, Matteo Cantiello, Thibaut Decressin, Alexandra Dierks, Karen Friedrich, Hilding Neilson, Shazrene Mohamend, Enrice Moreno-Menez, Bob van Veelen,

Former members:

Hartmut Braun, Sabina Chita, Luc Dessart, Andreas Deutschmann, Jens Fliegner, Alexander Heger, Falk Herwig, Allard-Jan van Marle, Jerome Petri, Jelena Petrovic, Arend Jan Poelarends, Silvia Scheithauer, Stephan Wellstein

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