News from the Chair

Huaiyu Duan

Professor Duan Receives DOE Early Career Grant

Huaiyu Duan received a DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program Award for Neutrino Oscillations in Supernovae. His research was selected for funding by the Office of Nuclear Physics and the DOE Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.

The abstract is as follows:

At the end of the life of a massive star, its core collapses under its own gravity and the star explodes as a supernova. Supernovae are crucial to the chemical evolution of the universe. They disseminate heavy elements into the Interstellar Medium inside which new generations of stars are born. Although supernovae have been observed in the last several decades, only recently, with the advances of computing technologies and the development of multi-dimensional supernova simulations, is the explosion mechanism of a supernova finally (close to being) understood. However, the recent development of neutrino mixing adds a new twist to this puzzle. Neutrinos interact very weakly with ordinary matter but carry away 99% of the total energy of a supernova. The electron-flavor neutrinos and antineutrinos play pivotal roles in supernova physics. It has been established by experiments that neutrinos and antineutrinos of the electron flavor can transform or oscillate into neutrinos of other flavors and vice versa. In this project, we will take inputs from supernova simulations, perform large-scale numerical simulations of neutrino oscillations in supernovae, and investigate the potential impacts of neutrino oscillations on supernova physics. By studying neutrino oscillations in supernovae, we will complete an important piece of the supernova puzzle and help answer some fundamental questions such as ones about the origin of the elements.