This rendering shows the density of matter in the aftermath of two merged neutron stars, resulting in the formation of a black hole. (Credit: David Radice/Pennsylvania State University)

A new Physics Frontier Center at UC Berkeley, supported by the National Science Foundation, expands the reach and depth of existing capabilities on campus and at neighboring Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in modeling one of the most violent events in the universe: the merger of neutron stars and its explosive aftermath.

The Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries (N3AS) Physics Frontier Center is led by Wick Haxton, a theoretical nuclear physicist in Berkeley Lab’s Nuclear Science Division, astrophysicist, and UC Berkeley physics professor.