Research
Computational Astrophysics
Computational Astrophysics is a rapidly growing branch of astrophysical research. Computer models allow to explore "locally" the fundamental physical processes at work in far-away astronomical objects. Modeling projects at the department cover such diverse topics as
- cosmology: structure formation, dark matter dynamics
- galaxies and galaxy clusters: formation, evolution, dynamics, morphology classification
- active galactic nuclei: feedback effects
- relativistic jets
- interstellar medium: dynamics, chemistry, initial conditions for star formation
- star and planet formation: gas fragmentation, evolution of protoplanetary accretion disks
- accretion disks: structure, evolution, radiative signatures
- astro-chemistry
The amount of information and details revealed by the ever-increasing power of modern-day telescopes challenge the corresponding numerical models. This challenge requires novel numerical methods to describe these processes accurately. Research at the department is actively involved in the development of such methods, as e.g.
- N-body codes
- (magneto-)hydrodynamical schemes (high-order shock-capturing/gas-kinetic)
- radiative transfer codes (Monte Carlo)
- chemical networks
- morphology classification algorithms
- large-volume data mining techniques
- relaxation methods for disk structure calculations
Local computational resources comprise three PC-clusters with a (current) total of 210 processors and high-speed (infiniband) network connection, in addition to the over 1000 processors available at the U of M's Center for Advanced Computing.
This page was current as of 7/16/07
The People involved
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