Luca Boccioli: What can we learn from 1D simulations of supernovae? How and when to use them.

Tuesday 2 Dec 2025, 13:15 → 14:00 Europe/Stockholm

Core-collapse supernovae are a complex multi-dimensional environment where neutrinos play a major role in determining the outcome of the explosion. To understand the physics at play, sophisticated radiation hydrodynamics 3D simulations are currently being run on the world's fastest supercomputers. However, large uncertainties affect the pre-supernova models. Moreover, thousands of detections of compact objects (thanks to next-generation gravitational-wave observatories) and light curve observations (thanks to large surveys such as the LSST at the Vera Rubin observatory) will soon be available. Therefore, to address these uncertainties and to compare to observations, we need to run systematic studies of hundreds or thousands of models, which 3D simulations are not capable of producing. In this talk, I will focus on 1D simulations of core-collapse supernovae that, contrary to previous 1D approaches, are more physically reliable but, contrary to 3D simulations, are rather cheap to run. I will show how well these models compare to 3D in terms of explodability, neutrino heating, and light-curve properties inferred from observations. One of the most significant differences compared to what was previously assumed is that high-mass, high-compactness models often lead to successful explosions. I will show that this leads to a bimodal birth-mass distribution of neutron stars, contrary to most previous predictions. Lastly, I will show how these models change the explosive nucleosynthesis compared to previous 1D studies.

About the Speaker: Luca Boccioli is a Postdoc at UC Berkeley working on simulations of core-collapse supernovae. He is also interested in several aspects of microphysics (mostly involving neutrino interactions and the nuclear equation of state), as well as peculiar pre-supernova progenitors, such as CO shell-mergers, binaries, and rotating progenitors at low metallicity. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's from the University of Perugia and, in 2023, obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, working with Prof. Grant Mathews.

In the OKC:  Dec 1st - 4th, on AlbaNova floor 6