DATE:

Friday, February 24, 2023

TIME:

3:30 PM

LOCATION:

GMCS 314

SPEAKER:

Dr. Fridolin Weber, Physics, San Diego State University

ABSTRACT:

Galaxies like the Milky Way are filled with hundreds of millions of so-called neutron stars. The matter inside neutron stars is gravitationally compressed to densities that are up to ten times greater than the densities of atomic nuclei. Immediately after birth, neutron stars have temperatures of several 100 billion degrees, which is so high that particles like protons and neutrons begin to √¢¬Ä¬úmelt” and new states of matter be created. In this talk, I will give an educational overview of the physics of such matter and the properties of (proto-) neutron stars. The theoretical framework of such studies is given by a relativistic quantum field theory and Einstein’s theory of general relativity, to be solved numerically. Coupled with the unprecedented advances in observational astronomy, (proto-) neutron stars are excellent astrophysical laboratories for a wide range of fascinating physical/computational studies whose predictions can be tested by observation.

HOST:

Kenneth Nollett

VIDEO: