Publications by authors named "Simon Portegies Zwart"

Massive stars are predominantly born in stellar associations or clusters. Their radiation fields, stellar winds and supernovae strongly impact their local environment. In the first few million years of a cluster's life, massive stars are dynamically ejected and run away from the cluster at high speed.

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In this position paper, we discuss two relevant topics: (i) generic multiscale computing on emerging exascale high-performing computing environments, and (ii) the scaling of such applications towards the exascale. We will introduce the different phases when developing a multiscale model and simulating it on available computing infrastructure, and argue that we could rely on it both on the conceptual modelling level and also when actually executing the multiscale simulation, and maybe should further develop generic frameworks and software tools to facilitate multiscale computing. Next, we focus on simulating multiscale models on high-end computing resources in the face of emerging exascale performance levels.

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This short contribution introduces a theme issue dedicated to 'Multiscale modelling, simulation and computing: from the desktop to the exascale'. It holds a collection of articles presenting cutting-edge research in generic multiscale modelling and multiscale computing, and applications thereof on high-performance computing systems. The special issue starts with a position paper to discuss the paradigm of multiscale computing in the face of the emerging exascale, followed by a review and critical assessment of existing multiscale computing environments.

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Many white dwarf stars show signs of having accreted smaller bodies, implying that they may host planetary systems. A small number of these systems contain gaseous debris discs, visible through emission lines. We report a stable 123.

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Astronomical phenomena are governed by processes on all spatial and temporal scales, ranging from days to the age of the Universe (13.8 Gyr) as well as from kilometre size up to the size of the Universe. This enormous range in scales is contrived, but as long as there is a physical connection between the smallest and largest scales it is important to be able to resolve them all, and for the study of many astronomical phenomena this governance is present.

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About 20% of all massive stars in the Milky Way have unusually high velocities, the origin of which has puzzled astronomers for half a century. We argue that these velocities originate from strong gravitational interactions between single stars and binaries in the centers of star clusters. The ejecting binary forms naturally during the collapse of a young (≤1 million years old) star cluster.

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Article Synopsis
  • Supernova SN 2006gy in the galaxy NGC 1260 is the brightest supernova ever recorded, suggesting its progenitor was an extremely massive star (>100 solar masses).
  • However, the presence of hydrogen in the supernova's spectrum challenges the idea that it came from a single massive star, as those are expected to lose their hydrogen before exploding.
  • Instead, the researchers propose that SN 2006gy could be the result of two massive stars merging, and predict that a dense cluster of massive stars will become visible at the explosion site once the supernova fades.
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