Innovative modeling approaches in astrophysics and climate physics

The first Leibniz ScienceCampus in Brandenburg is being established in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics.

Led by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), the campus “SCALES: Multiscale Challenges: from Astrophysics to Climate Models” is being set up in close collaboration with the University of Potsdam. Alongside the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute/AEI) in the Potsdam Science Park, other non-university partners include the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics, the German Center for Astrophysics and the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron. The campus will be jointly funded for four years by the participating Leibniz institutes, the Leibniz Association, the University of Potsdam and the state of Brandenburg, with a total budget of €4.12 million. Christoph Pfrommer (AIP) is coordinating the initiative and is serving as spokesperson together with Tim Dietrich (University of Potsdam and AEI).

Many of the most pressing scientific questions arise from the interplay of processes across very different spatial and temporal scales. The ScienceCampus brings together expertise from astrophysics and Earth system science to develop new computational and data-driven approaches that model these interactions more consistently and precisely across all scales, ultimately enabling better predictions.

For the AEI, Tim Dietrich, leader of the Max Planck Fellow Group on Multi-Messenger Astrophysics of Compact Binaries, and Kenta Kiuchi, group leader in the Computational Relativistic Astrophysics department, are taking part in the ScienceCampus. Both researchers are contributing their many years of expertise in simulating binary neutron stars to the research project.

Read the full press release by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam here.