29 May 2024 - Dr. Yuri Cavecchi (University of Barcelona, Spain)
Title: "Thermonuclear Type I Bursts and the Physics of Neutron Stars"
Abstract: Neutron stars are born in the aftermath of supernova stellar explosions. They enclose the mass of one or two suns within only ten kilometres, so that their gravity is so high that general relativistic effects become important in their proximity, affecting the space time and light propagation near their surface. Due to their compactness, their interior reaches density unattainable on earth. Their matters can be superfluid, superconductor and in their core even free quarks may appear.
When they are in orbit with a companion star, they can capture the outer layers of the latter. This new matter can burn unstably on the surface of the neutron stars and explode in bright X-ray flashes called the type I bursts.
In this talk I will show how modelling the magnetohydrodynamics of the flame during the type I bursts gives us a window on properties of the neutron stars such as their magnetic fields or their interior physics, which has also connections to gravitational waves.
I will also discuss how these simulations can give us information relevant to nuclear physics, related both to astronomical events such as binary mergers and experiments on earth.
15 сен 2024
