My Ph.D. at the Niels Bohr Institute focuses on the intersection between particle physics and astrophysics. We investigate which role a tiny particle called the neutrino plays in violent astrophysical events with high particle densities, such as supernovae or the merger of two neutron stars. We also study how the particle nature of the neutrino behaves in these compact astrophysical environments.
The neutrino is a fascinating particle in many ways. It rarely interacts with other particles but is known to change its own flavor as is propagates through the Universe. The medium inside a supernova or a neutron star merger is, however, so dense that the neutrinos are able to interact with each other to produce so-called fast flavor oscillations that can not be found in any other astrophysical source. In my project, we explore the flavor evolution of supernova neutrinos in numerical simulations that allow us to understand the interplay between the neutrinos and the supernova explosion mechanism itself.