Stellar Physics

What happens inside a star?

In Exeter, we study the physical and evolutionary properties of stars of various masses. Our activities focus on the development of numerical models including the best appropriate physics (like thermodynamics, energy transport and opacity properties of matter) and the description of hydrodynamical processes.

We are currently developing a time implicit, multi-dimensional hydrodynamical code in order to study various processes characteristic of stellar fluid dynamics (e.g. turbulence, convection, rotation, oscillations). Such models predict fundamental stellar properties which can be compared to observational data obtained with telescopes. The main motivation is to test fundamental physics in astrophysical "laboratories" and to provide the best theoretical foundation to analyse the outcome of observational programs. This field of research is based on strong interaction with the Applied Mathematics department of the University of Exeter.

		Stellar evolution Isabelle Baraffe and Matthew Bate work on developing an implicit stellar evolution code.				Magneto-hydrodynamics Isabelle Baraffe and Gilles Chabrier study convection, rotation and magnetic activity in low mass stars and brown dwarfs.
		Formation and evolution Matthew Bate, Isabelle Baraffe and Gilles Chabrier study the link between hydro star formation and quasi-static stellar evolution.