Marcus DuPont

My research focuses on understanding the physics of astrophysical transients through computational modeling. I explore the gas dynamics of cataclysmic explosions such as supernovae (SNe), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) using SIMBI, a three-dimensional special relativistic hydrodynamics code I developed that runs on CPUs as well as NVidia and AMD GPUs. Currently, I am particularly interested in accretion problems, dynamical systems, and the physics of bow shocks—especially how these phenomena interact in extreme environments involving ultra-relativistic speeds, strong shocks, and magnetic fields. My work combines numerical simulations with analytical theory to develop self-consistent models that constrain the fundamental processes driving these catastrophic events, from the conditions preceding stellar death to the complex dynamics of matter in extreme gravitational and electromagnetic fields.