
Study of supernova star explosions
Study results obtained by dr hab. Tobias Fisher from the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Wrocław and an international group of researchers will contribute to solving one of the greatest riddles of astrophysics.
The origin and nature of explosions of massive stars known as supernovas are phenomena considered among the most energetic explosions in the Universe. Thanks to the initiative of dr hab. Tobias Fisher from the Elementary Particle Theory Department – and an international team of researchers (among others from Darmstadt) collaborating with him – it was possible to demonstrate for the first time that the appearance of exotic particles under extreme conditions may lead to supernova explosions. The existence of matter known as quark-gluon plasma has already been speculated about for a long time. The obtained results will enable studying it in the context of future galactic explosions.
The article summarizing the results of the study – Quark deconfinement as a supernova explosion engine for massive blue supergiant stars – has been published in the prestigious journal „Nature Astronomy” on the 22nd of October. For now it can be found on the website, it will also appear in the print edition of the journal.