A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for
Astrophysics conducted the most expensive and most elaborate computer
simulations so far to study the formation of neutron stars at the center of
collapsing stars with unprecedented accuracy. These worldwide first
three-dimensional models with a detailed treatment of all important physical
effects confirm that extremely violent, hugely asymmetric sloshing and spiral
motions occur when the stellar matter falls towards the center. The results of
the simulations thus lend support to basic perceptions of the dynamical
processes that are involved when a star explodes as supernova.