Astrophysical Simulation [The University of Nottingham]

Introduction

[Nottingham HPC facility] Computational modelling plays an important role within modern astrophysics, enabling the latest observational data to be physically interpreted as well as making predictions for what could be observed by new instruments. The astronomy group at Nottingham has dedicated access to the University's own 1000+ processor HPC facility, one of the largest research facilities in the country. As a member of the world leading astrophysical simulation collaboration, the Virgo Consortium, we combine extensive expertise in the area with a first class research facility.

The Millennium Gas project

[A slice through a cosmological simulation] The Millennium gas project involves several massive computational simulations of a large part of our Universe. Led by astronomers at the University of Nottingham this project extends the ten billion particle dark matter only simulation that appeared as a Nature cover to include hydrodynamical quantities. The inclusion of gas requires several additional physical processes to be considered such as cooling, star formation and the feedback of energy due to various astrophysical sources. We are progressively adding these processes in a controlled manner so that we can study their effects individually.

Group evolution multiwavelength survey

[GEMS] The GEMS project is a collaboration involving groups at Swinburne, Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool John Moores Universities and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. Our aim is to combine data taken in a variety of wavebands (currently X-ray, optical, near-infrared, and neutral hydrogen) with simulations, to study the properties of galaxy groups and the galaxies within them. Nottingham is playing a central role in providing group scale simulations.

High-redshift galaxies

[A simulated cluster of galaxies] The end of the Dark Ages is a hot topic within astrophysics: when and where did the first stars form and how did cosmic hydrogen get re-ionised so that the Universe became transparent to light so that we can see such vast distances across it? In combination with the observational UKIDSS ultra-deep survey, which is also being led by Nottingham, we have a programme in place to simulate high-redshift star and galaxy formation by progressively zooming in to selected regions within the Millennium volume. This work also feeds directly into our observational programme to study galaxy formation and evolution, particularly the formation of brightest cluster galaxies, which are likely mark the present location of much high redshift material.

PhD Projects

Applications for a PhD place within the Nottingham Astronomy group are very much encouraged. For more information on current research opportunities in computational modelling, contact Frazer Pearce, who will be happy to discuss suitable projects with prospective candidates. Frazer Pearce is the scientific lead for the University of Nottingham High Performance Computing project, and is also happy to direct and encourage applicants wishing to specialise in other computational areas.

Page Maintained By: Frazer Pearce
Last Revision: October 11th 2006