Using computer simulations to explore neutron stars is the goal of a $181,830 project headed by Dr. Alex Gezerlis, Department of Physics. Along with physics professors Drs. Liliana Caballero and Daniel Siegel, he will use advanced research computing equipment to analyze data from gravitational wave detectors on Earth and in space.

These detectors provide information about celestial objects including neutron stars. In 2017, the first-ever observed collision of two neutron stars started a new research field called “multi-messenger physics” that allows scientists to probe the extreme physics of neutron stars and black holes.