Lead Chief Investigator

Martin Asplund Mount Stromlo Observatory, RSAA, Australian National University

Project Title

Stellar Convection and Spectroscopy

Brief Description for General Publications

A proper understanding of convection has for a long time been one of the greatest challenges to stellar astrophysics. The effects of stellar convection not only impact stellar structure and evolution but also carry over directly to other fields of astrophysics and cosmology when using stars as probes of the cosmos. For example, stellar convection can reach and greatly influence the surface layers from which the stellar spectrum originates, radiation which carries crucial information about the star and its heritage. Due to its highly non-linear and non-local nature, the only feasible approach to gain further understanding of stellar convection is to carry out computationally demanding hydrodynamical simulations including the effects of radiation. We intend to perform such simulations using the excellent supercomputing facilities at APAC. In particular we will simulate giant stars as well as some of the oldest stars in the Universe and thereby gain insight to Big Bang nucleosynthesis, galaxy formation and evolution and the origin of the elements.