Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 22, 2025

Predicting Catalyst Extrudate Breakage Based on the Modulus of Rupture
Published on: May 13, 2018
Core-collapse supernova explosion theory
1Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. burrows@astro.princeton.edu.
Abstract:
Most supernova explosions accompany the death of a massive star. These explosions give birth to neutron stars and black holes, and eject solar masses of heavy elements. However, determining the mechanism of explosion has been a half-century journey of great numerical and physical complexity. Here we present the status of this theoretical quest and the physics and astrophysics upon which its resolution seems to depend. The delayed neutrino-heating mechanism is emerging as the key driver of supernova explosions, but there remain many issues to address, such as the chaos of the involved dynamics.
More Related Videos
09:44Laboratory Drop Towers for the Experimental Simulation of Dust-aggregate Collisions in the Early Solar System
Published on: June 5, 2014
09:18Laser-heating and Radiance Spectrometry for the Study of Nuclear Materials in Conditions Simulating a Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Published on: December 14, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Nuclear Stability
To hold positively charged protons together...
Nuclear Fusion
A helium nucleus has a mass that is 0.7% less than that of four hydrogen nuclei; this lost mass is converted into energy during the fusion. This reaction produces about...
Nuclear Fission
Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape...
Detection of Black Holes
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
The Principle of Superposition and the Gravitational Field