APSARA: Asia-Pacific Stellar Astrophysics Research Alliance
APSARA, the Asia-Pacific Stellar Astrophysics Research Alliance, is a CAPI / IPSFC faculty research fellowship under Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, led by Falk Herwig. Over 90 days in region across two visits in January–February 2027 and 2028, it builds a research network across Australia, Thailand, and Japan around 3D stellar hydrodynamics with PPMstar, asteroseismology, and machine learning for astrophysics. The work links supernova progenitors and explosions, 3D simulations matched to observed stellar oscillations, and common-envelope and i-process nucleosynthesis. UVic graduate students Joshua Issa and Praneet Pathak take part.
Partner nodes
- Macquarie University (Australia), Orsola De Marco. 3D common-envelope hydrodynamics, pre-common-envelope accretion disks, and dust formation in common envelopes.
- Monash University (Australia). Bernhard Müller (3D core-collapse supernova explosions with the CoCoNuT code, and the 1D-to-3D progenitor hand-off); Alexander Heger (KEPLER pre-supernova evolution, fallback, and ⁴⁴Ti); Amanda Karakas (s-process nucleosynthesis in AGB stars, and yields).
- University of Sydney (Australia), Tim Bedding. Asteroseismology of red giants and delta-Scuti stars from TESS and Kepler photometry, and neural-network emulators for delta-Scuti model grids. UVic graduate student Praneet Pathak participates remotely and benefits from the collaboration.
- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT). David Mkrtichian (delta-Scuti and oscillating-eclipsing-Algol pulsators; 3D Algol mass-transfer hydrodynamics); Samaporn Tinyanont (JWST supernova-dust imaging and NARIT 0.7-m follow-up).
- Japan. Toshiki Sato (Meiji University; XRISM observations of ⁴⁴Ti in Cassiopeia A); Kai Matsunaga (Kyoto University; XRISM ⁴⁴Ti line). UVic graduate student Joshua Issa connects with this node.
What we aim to accomplish
- Couple PPMstar 3D simulations with partners’ core-collapse, common-envelope, and asteroseismology work.
- Compare 3D simulation predictions against TESS/Kepler, JWST, and XRISM observations.
- Explore machine-learning surrogates trained on simulation and observation data.
- Host Stellar Hydrodays VII and a training school at NARIT in 2028.
Status: awarded May 2026, planning phase open.