December 6, 2024 8-10 PM

Event Type: Lecture and Stargazing
Title: How to Build a Galaxy from Scratch
Lecturer: Sam Ponnada
Position: PhD Candidate
Institution: Caltech
Abstract:
Galaxies like our own Milky Way are complex systems composed of many different physical components, including dark matter, gas, dust, stars, magnetic fields, and black holes. Understanding how these galaxies, featuring highly ordered structures like spiral arms and disks, are born out of cosmic chaos is a major field of study in modern astrophysics. In this talk, I will illustrate how computational astrophysicists use supercomputer simulations to model these celestial systems in detail, uncovering the physics that shapes them.