Nick Ekanger

I am an astrophysics theory postdoc at Tohoku University and recently graduated from Virginia Tech (Department of Physics, Center for Neutrino Physics) under Dr. Shunsaku Horiuchi.

I study the role of nuclear interactions in high-energy astrophysical environments. Particularly, how these interactions affect open questions related to cosmic rays.

My PhD work primarily focused on:

1) the role of nucleosynthesis in high-energy astrophysical environments like compact object mergers and supernovae and how it relates to composition-dependent signatures like kilonovae, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), and neutrinos,

2) combining observational data of star formation rates with simulation data of core collapse supernovae to improve aspects of diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) models, in time for upcoming neutrino experiments.