Wolfgang Hillebrandt - Böcker

Supernovae, their bearing on cosmology and their connection to gamma-ray bursts are now at the center of astrophysical research programs. This volume deals with astronomical observations of supernovae and their relation to nuclear and particle astrophysics. All known aspects of supernovae explosions are investigated in articles specifically written for researchers and advanced graduate students. It also includes recent numerical "experiments" related to the question of hydrodynamical instability in two and three dimensions and to problems concerning the complexity of radiation transport in the models. Other contributions discuss the possible energy sources needed to drive these powerful stellar explosions.

What do combustion engines, fusion reactors, weather forecast, ocean ?ows, our sun, and stellar explosions in outer space have in common? Of course, the physics and the length and time scales are vastly di?erent in all cases, but it is alsowellknownthatinallofthem,onsomerelevantlengthscales,thematerial ?ows that govern the dynamical and/or secular evolution of the systems are chaotic and often unpredictable: they are said to be turbulent. In fact, the term "turbulence" is used for an enormous variety of p- nomena in very di?erent ?elds, including geophysics, astrophysics, and - gineering. Unfortunately, these communities do not talk to each other too often. Therefore, back in 2005, we organized a workshop on "Interdis- plinary Aspects of Turbulence" at the Ringberg Castle in the Bavarian Alps, to discuss topics such as the basic concepts of turbulence, the di?- ent approaches of modelling and simulations used in the various areas, and also possible tests. This workshop was a great success and the proceedings can be found on the Internet (www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/mpa/publications/ proceedings/proceedings-en.html) as well as pdf-?les of several of the talks presented (www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/hydro/Turbulence/).

What do combustion engines, fusion reactors, weather forecast, ocean ?ows, our sun, and stellar explosions in outer space have in common? Of course, the physics and the length and time scales are vastly di?erent in all cases, but it is alsowellknownthatinallofthem,onsomerelevantlengthscales,thematerial ?ows that govern the dynamical and/or secular evolution of the systems are chaotic and often unpredictable: they are said to be turbulent. In fact, the term "turbulence" is used for an enormous variety of p- nomena in very di?erent ?elds, including geophysics, astrophysics, and - gineering. Unfortunately, these communities do not talk to each other too often. Therefore, back in 2005, we organized a workshop on "Interdis- plinary Aspects of Turbulence" at the Ringberg Castle in the Bavarian Alps, to discuss topics such as the basic concepts of turbulence, the di?- ent approaches of modelling and simulations used in the various areas, and also possible tests. This workshop was a great success and the proceedings can be found on the Internet (www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/mpa/publications/ proceedings/proceedings-en.html) as well as pdf-?les of several of the talks presented (www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/hydro/Turbulence/).

In May 1986 a two-day workshop on Physical Processes in Comets, Stars and Active Galaxies was held at the Ringberg Castle near Lake Tegernsee, and this rather unusml. l collection of topics needs a few words of explanation. When we first thought of organizing a workshop on such a large variety of astrophysical objects our main motivation was to honor Rudolf Kippenhahn and Hermann Ulrich Schmidt on the occasion of their 60th birthdays, and we planned to cover at least a fraction of their fields of active research. We then realized immediately that despite the fact that the objects are so different, the physical processes involved are very much the same, and that it is this aspect of astrophysics which governed the scientific lives of both of our distinguished colleagues and friends and allowed them to make major contributions to all those fields. Apparently this viewpoint was shared by many colleagues and it was therefore not surprising that in response to our invitation everybody who had been invited agreed to come and to present a talk. The workshop then turned out to be a real success. In contrast to highly specialized conferences, fundamental problems as well as very recent devel­ opments were discussed and the participants appreciated the opportunity to exchange ideas.

The recent discovery of a type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud provides a rare chance to compare models of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis directly with observations. This workshop covers thermonuclear reaction rates in chaos (experimental and theoretical), stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis and isotopic anomalies in meteorites and, in a final section, the supernovae, in particular SN 1987A. It brings the most interesting news in the rapidly developing field of nuclear astrophysics to researchers and also to graduate students. Recent and future developments are discussed. Special emphasis is placed on experimental and theoretical approaches to obtaining nuclear reaction rates, models of stellar evolution and explosions, and theories of nucleosynthesis. Various aspects of stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis, and thermonuclear reactions of astrophysical interest are reviewed. Several contributions deal with supernova explosions of massive stars, and in particular with Supernova 1987A and its impact on current models of the evolution of massive stars, the gravitational collapse of stellar cores, and neutrino physics and astronomy.