Prof. Jarrod Hurley
My research revolves around the evolution of stars, binaries and star clusters. Specifically I am interested in the link between dynamical interactions in the dense environments of star clusters and modification of the stellar populations they contain. These interactions produce stellar exotica such as blue stragglers, cataclysmic variables, X-ray binaries and type Ia supernovae progenitors. To understand these processes I conduct direct N-body simulations of star cluster evolution using special-purpose GRAPE hardware and supercomputers. In particular I endeavour to make the simulations as realistic as possible which aids comparison to, and interpretation of, Hubble Space Telescope observations of star cluster structure and content. A current focus is the addition of stellar nucleosynthesis to the N-body code so that we can understand observed abundance variations amongst globular cluster stars. I am also interested in the morphology of planetary systems that can be created in the star cluster environment and also what star clusters can teach us about galaxy evolution.
| Phone | +61 3 9214 5787 | |
| Office | SA 115 | |
| Personal Webpage | https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~jhurley/ |