Neutrino and nuclear astrophysics

The law of particle and nuclear physics that describe the fundamental knowledge of physics in the microscopic level, can play important role in determining the evolution of macroscopic astrophysical objects. In particular, some explosive astrophysical phenomenon, e.g., core-collapse supernovae and the mergers of two neutron stars, can create conditions that are not accesible by terrestrial experiments. Therefore, the outcome and different observables of such astrophysical events can in many facets depend on our theoretical understanding of the underlying particle and nuclear physics. 

Our goals in these research areas are trying to improve the yet-unknown theoretical understanding of these systems and connecting the theoretical predictions to the observables that may be able to be detected in this exciting era of multi-messenger astronomy. Some recent research directions include but are not limited to the follows:

1. Theoretical/numerical modeling of the non-linear collective neutrino flavor oscillations in core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers, and their observational signatures.
2. Investigating the role of unknown theoretical nuclear physics inputs in the modeling of kilonova electromagnetic light curves following the merger of binary neutron stars or a neutron star with a black hole.
3. Study the heavy element formation in various explosive astrophysical events and their implication in understanding the chemical evolution of the galaxies.
4. Constraining the beyond-the-Standard-Model physics with core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers.

 

Researchers: Meng-Ru Wu, Manu George, Yen-Hsun Lin, Herlik Wibowo

For further details, see https://mengruwuu.github.io/