Coffee & Viz - Visualizing the Invisible: Gravitational Waves, Neutron Stars, and X-Ray Binaries

Looking up with his x-ray vision, Superman would see that our sky is lit by numerous x-ray binaries, all of which will eventually disappear in a burst of gravitational waves. To understand these fascinating systems, astrophysicists rely heavily on computational modeling. Visualizing the data from these models allows one to ‘see’ physical processes that would otherwise be invisible, from implosive shocks in the core of a supernova to the warping of space-time itself.

In this presentation, Dr. John Blondin will take you on an astronomical journey from massive stars to gravitational waves using visualizations from current research in computational astrophysics. Dr. Blondin is Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor in the Department of Physics and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Sciences at NC State.