As a Hong Kong-raised astrophysicist whose education and academic career has spanned the UK, Australia, the US, and Germany, I seek to strengthen my ties with Hong Kong’s academic community. The Hong Kong Laureate Forum (HKLF) offers a unique opportunity to engage with the city’s brightest minds and bridge Hong Kong with international science.

The Shaw Prize and HKLF are particularly meaningful to me due to their focus on Astronomy. This forum provides a rare opportunity to interact with Astronomy Shaw Laureates, some of whom I have briefly met but wish to engage more deeply with. For example, Prof. Matthew Bailes is the director of a research centre I was part of during my PhD, and Prof. Steven Balbus was one of my undergraduate lecturers. Learning from the most successful researchers from my own field would be invaluable for navigating my academic career.

Beyond the forum, I hope to remain actively involved in HKLF’s alumni community. I strongly share HKLF’s vision of promoting science—especially astronomy—to Hong Kong’s students, who I believe are exceptionally talented on a global scale. I am excited about supporting outreach initiatives such as research facilities visits and public talks to share my research and career experiences.

Monash University

Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies

mike-lau-fritz.pdf

I am a theoretical astrophysicist using computational methods to model interactions involving different kinds of stars. Roughly half of all observed stars are binary stars, systems of two stars orbiting each other. Their interactions drive important astrophysical phenomena, including gravitational waves, X-ray binaries, and certain classes of supernovae.

One process I study is mass transfer, where material flows from one star to its companion, modelled using simplified stellar structure models. Another process is common-envelope evolution, where one star becomes a red giant and directly “eats” its companion. I have published multiple papers and co-authored an invited encyclopaedia chapter on this topic. In my work, I model common-envelope evolution with detailed 3D fluid dynamics simulations running on high performance computing facilities, publishing some of the first simulations involving high-mass “red supergiant” stars.

Most stars are orbited by planets, which can be “swallowed” when the host star expands to a red giant towards the end of its life. I published one of the first 3D fluid dynamics simulations of this process while working as a “pre-doctoral” researcher at the Flatiron Institute. In my current research, I work on understanding the detailed physical processes governing planetary engulfment with new simulation setups.