Welcome!

I am Jing-Ze Ma (马竟泽), a young theoretical astrophysicist and a stellar engineer. I am currently a PhD student at Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, working with Prof. Dr. Selma de Mink. I grew up in Beijing, China. Before moving to Germany, I obtained my bachelor’s degree at Tsinghua University in China in 2022. I am interested in the 3D radiation magnetohydrodynamics of any astrophysical object, and the lives, deaths, and afterlives of stars, in particular those of massive stars and binaries. 

I like to talk to other astrophysicists and get to know their works. I also enjoy hiking and singing with the choir.

RESEARCH INTERESTS 

Stellar evolution

Compact objects

Transients

Radiation MHD

RECENT PROJECTS

Sep. 2021 – Mar. 2022 (expected)
Remote collaboration

Dr. Selma de Mink & Dr. Rob Farmer

Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics

Germany

Effects of period and metallicity on pre-supernova structures of binary-stripped massive stars

Binary-stripped stars generally have a different structure and composition from single stars, which can have a significant effect on core-collapse supernovae. The aim of this project is to explore what effects the initial orbital period and metallicity have on the pre-supernova structure and nucleosynthesis of binary-stripped stars.

Software:  MESA,  matlibplot,  NumPy,  Jupyter Notebook

Jul. 2021 – Oct. 2021 (expected)
Remote collaboration

Prof. Bing Zhang

Department of Physics & Astronomy

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

USA

Relativistic oblique magnetohydrodynamic shocks and reverse shock formation

We formulated a simple approach to treat the jump conditions of oblique shocks (as well as shocks with random fields), and discussed the forming conditions and characteristics of reverse shocks in gamma-ray burst afterglows.

Software:  MATLAB

Dec. 2020 – Mar. 2022 (expected)

Prof. Yu-Qing Lou

Department of Physics

Tsinghua University

China

Partially magnetically supported massive stars to fill the black hole mass gap

We attempt to figure out whether the radial magnetic force arising from a random field in the stellar interior would affect the fate of massive stars, possibly giving birth to the progenitors of the pair-instability mass-gap black holes (e.g., GW190521 detected by LIGO-Virgo).

Software:  MESA,  matlibplot,  NumPy,  Jupyter Notebook,  MATLAB

Jan. 2020 – Nov. 2020

Prof. Yu-Qing Lou

Department of Physics

Tsinghua University

China

Supermassive stars partially supported by random transverse magnetic fields

We found the radial magnetic force arising from a random field > 10^8 G in the stellar interior would affect the global properties of supermassive stars, e.g., luminosity, radius, and the maximum mass subject to general relativistic instability.

Software: MATLAB

Apr. 2019 – Apr. 2020

Prof. Yu Tian & his group

State Key Laboratory of Tribology

Tsinghua University

China

Surface tension in water strider locomotion and bio-inspired robot

We wrote a review article about the biomechanics in the locomotion of water striders (an insect that lives on water surface), and sketched a prototype for strider-like robots.

NEWS & POPULAR SCIENCE

2024

“A new spin on Betelgeuse’s boiling surface” featured in multiple media sources.

English: Scientific American Nature Astronomy AAS Nova Space.com Phys.org, Sky & Telescope Universe Today MPA Research Highlight

French: Futura Sciences Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur

Italian: INAF (National Institute for Astrophysics)

Dutch: Astronomie.nl, Alles over sterrenkunde 

2023

“Does Betelgeuse Even Rotate? Maybe Not” featured in Phys.org and Universe Today.

Is Betelgeuse really rotating?
Or have we been tricked by the boiling surface of Betelgeuse for more than two decades?

Magnetized reverse shocks may form in GRBs & FRBs.
Why did there appear to be conflicts between different theories and simulations?

PUBLICATIONS

2024

10. Jing-Ze Ma , Ruediger Pakmor, and et al. “AREPO-IDORT: Implicit Discrete Ordinates Radiation Transport for Radiation Hydrodynamics on a Moving Mesh”. in preparation, 2024.

9. Jing-Ze Ma , Rob Farmer, and Selma E. de Mink. “Carbon yield from massive binary-stripped stars: effect of metallicity and orbital period”. in preparation, 2024.

8. Ruggero Valli, Christopher Tiede, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez, Jorge Cuadra, Magdalena Siwek, Jing-Ze Ma, Daniel J. D’Orazio, Jonathan Zrake, and Selma E. de Mink. Long-term Evolution of Binary Orbits Induced by Circumbinary Disks. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 688: A128, 2024.

7. Jing-Ze Ma , Andrea Chiavassa, Selma E. de Mink, Ruggero Valli, Stephen Justham, and Bernd Freytag.  Is Betelgeuse really rotating? Synthetic ALMA observations of large-scale convection in 3D simulations of Red Supergiants . The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 962:L36, 2024.

2023

6. R. Farmer, E. Laplace,  Jing-Ze Ma, S. E. de Mink, and S. Justham.  Nucleosynthesis of Binary-stripped Stars. The Astrophysical Journal, 948:111, 2023.

5. Taeho Ryu, Rosalba Perna, Ruediger Pakmor, Jing-Ze Ma , Rob Farmer, and Selma E. de Mink.  Close encounters of tight binary stars with stellar-mass black holes Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 519:5787, 2023.

2022

4. Yu-Qing Lou and Jing-Ze Ma Supermassive stars with random transverse magnetic fields Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 516:1481, 2022.

3. Jing-Ze Ma  and Bing Zhang.  Reverse shock forming condition for magnetized relativistic outflows: reconciling theories and simulations Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 514:3725, 2022.

2. Jing-Ze Ma  and Bing Zhang.  Relativistic oblique shocks with ordered or random magnetic fields: tangential field governs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 511:925, 2022.

2020

1. Jing-Ze Ma, Hong-Yu Lu, Xiao-Song Li, and Yu Tian.  Interfacial phenomena of water striders on water surfaces: a review from biology to biomechanics. Zoological Research, 41(3):231, 2020.

EDUCATION

Sep. 2022 – 2026 (expected)

PhD candidate

in Astrophysics

Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany

Sep. 2018 – Jun. 2022

Bachelor’s degree

in Engineering Mechanics

Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

CHOIR LIFE

Me in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2019, with Tsinghua Student Choir. We won two gold medals in the 2019 European Choir Games there.

 

 

Performing at the City Concert Hall in Chengdu, China in 2021, with Tsinghua Student Choir.