Alexander Heger

Technical Staff Member, Theoretical Astrophysics Group, T-6, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2003-present; Associate, The University of Chicago, 2004-2007; Associate Adjunct Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UCSC, 2006-2008.

PI, LANL DR "Coming out of the Cosmic Dark Ages - The First Stars in the Universe" (2004-2007); PI LANL ER "Finding the First Cosmic Explosions" (2007-2010); Co-I LANL DR "Cosmic Explosions Probing the Extreme: X-Ray Bursts, Superbursts, and Giant Flares on Neutron Stars" (2007-2010); Co-I DOE "SciDAC Center for Supernova Research" (2004-2006); Co-I DOE SciDAC "Computational Astrophysics Consortium - 3. Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Bursts, and Nucleosynthesis" (2006-2011); Co-I DOE Block Grant "Research in Nuclear Astrophysics" (2007-2011). Organizer "Chemical Enrichment of the Early Universe", 2004, Santa Fe, NM; Organizer "The First Stars and Evolution of the Early Universe", 2006, INT (UW); Organizer "First Stars III", 2007, Santa Fe, NM.

I study the life and explosive death of massive stars and the origin of the elements, and am generally interested in nuclear astrophysics. Specifically, my work comprises the study of massive and very massive stars (10-1000 solar masses); the first generations of stars in the universe (Pop III stars); evolution of rotating massive stars and the spin of their remnants; mixing and transport processes in the stellar interior; nucleosynthesis and the origin of elements, including galacto-chemical evolution - which elements are made where and when; supernovae (mechanisms and nucleosynthesis); gamma-ray bursts (collapsars and similar models) and their progenitors; modeling of Type I X-ray bursts and superbursts (thermonuclear explosions on the surface of neutron stars). "I blow up stars for a living."