Caltech Postdoc L(a)unch Seminar

Lunch will be served at 11:45 AM

Dr. Wynn Jacobson-Galán

Watching Red Supergiant Stars Explode

Have you ever wondered what the most massive stars in our universe do right before they die? Well, so do I! In this talk, I will discuss the violent fates of red supergiant stars (same star type as Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation) and how we can use telescopes around the world to understand their final moments before explosion. Additionally, I will present the first ever direct observations of a red supergiant tumultuously ejecting stellar material and then exploding as a brilliant supernova, the light of which being so powerful that it can outshine its entire host galaxy.

Dr. Solene Antoine

The 2025 Mw7.7 Mandalay, Myanmar, Earthquake Reveals Complex Earthquake Cycle with Clustering and Variable Segmentation on Sagaing Fault

Large earthquakes often occur on faults that were known to have produced destructive events in the past. However, anticipating the characteristics of these earthquakes and their impacts remains a great challenge. The March 2025, Mandalay, Myanmar, earthquake is the most strongly and extensively felt and damaging earthquake recorded in this region during the instrumental period. The rupture extent challenges usual scaling laws of earthquakes, and the amplitude and spatial distribution of fault slip conform only approximatively to the slip-predictable model and the segmentation inferred from the fault geometry and past ruptures. These observations challenge the usual approaches used in seismic hazard studies to propose future earthquake scenarios.

For more information, please contact Sejun Kim by email at [email protected] or visit this link to fill up the form and nominate yourself as a speaker.