University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center

The University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center (UC-HiPACC) based at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) is a consortium of nine University of California campuses and three Department of Energy laboratories (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory). The consortium's goal is to support and facilitate original research and education in computational astrophysics and to engage in public outreach and education.[1]

Staff and organization

Joel R. Primack, distinguished Professor of Physics at UCSC, has directed the UC-HiPACC consortium since its inception.[2] Peter Nugent from the Lawrence Berkley National Labarotory serves as the coordinator from northern California and Michael Norman from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) serves as the coordinator from southern California.[3] The staff includes Senior Writer Trudy E. Bell, Administrator Sue Grasso, Scientific Visualization Coordinator Alex Bogert, and webmaster Steve Zaslaw.[4] The consortium is organized at UCSC under the aegis of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics (SCIPP).[5]

Principal activities

The UC-HiPACC consortium, which began operating[6] in January 2010,[7] supports activities that facilitate and encourage excellence, collaboration, and education in astronomy across the University of California system[8] and affiliated DOE National Laboratories. It does not directly fund research or major hardware. Instead, UC-HiPACC sponsors working groups of UC scientists from multiple campuses and labs who pursue joint projects in computational astrophysics; workshops and conferences on topics in computational astrophysics; and an annual advanced summer school on a topic in computational astrophysics.[9]

UC-HiPACC Meetings and Summer Schools 2010–2013

Fourteen multi-day meetings and International Summer Schools on AstroComputing (ISSAC) were held from 2010 to 2013.[10]

Dates Name of Meeting Meeting Location/s Participants No. of Faculty No. of Students
2010
June 28–30 Enzo User Workshop UCSD/SDSC 45
July 26 – August 13 ISSAC 2010: Galaxy Simulations UCSC 10 59
August 16–20 Santa Cruz Galaxy Workshop UCSC 120
December 16–17 The Future of AstroComputing UCSD/SDSC 40
2011
July 18–29 ISSAC 2011: Explosive Astrophysics UCB/LBNL 14 28
August 8–12 Santa Cruz Galaxy Workshop UCSC 86
2012
June 14–16 The Baryon Cycle UCI 130
June 23–27 Computational Astronomy Journalism Boot Camp UCSC/NASA/CAS 20 15
July 9–20 ISSAC 2012: AstroInformatics UCSD/SDSC 11 34
August 13–17 Santa Cruz Galaxy Workshop UCSC 95
August 18–20 AGORA kickoff workshop UCSC 52
2013
July 22 – August 9 ISSAC 2013: Star and Planet Formation UCSC 16 48
August 12–16 Santa Cruz Galaxy Workshop UCSC 95
August 16–23 AGORA workshop UCSC 37
2014 (planned)
February 12–14 Near-Field Deep-Field Connection Conference UCI
March 21–22 Future of UC-HiPACC Workshop UCB/LBL
July 21 – August 1 ISSAC 2014 UCSD/SDSC
August 11–15 Santa Cruz Galaxy Workshop UCSC
August 15–18 AGORA workshop UCSC

AGORA = Assembling Galaxies of Resolved Anatomy; CAS = California Academy of Sciences; CGE = Center for Galaxy Evolution; ISSAC = International Summer School on AstroComputing; LBNL = Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; NASA = NASA Ames Research Center; NSF = National Science Foundation; SDSC = San Diego Supercomputer Center; UCI = UC Irvine; UCSC = UC Santa Cruz. All participants in the journalism boot camp were professional science journalists.

Future of AstroComputing Workshop (2010)

In December 2010, UC-HiPACC organized a major conference on the Future of AstroComputing[11] at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego (SDSC). UC-HiPACC provided partial support for the Enzo[12] workshop[13] at UCSD in spring 2010.

2012 Science Journalism Boot Camp in Computational Astronomy

It organized a journalism “boot camp” on computational astronomy,[14] called “Computational Astronomy: From Planets to Cosmos”.[15][16][17]

Santa Cruz Galaxy Workshops

Five-day workshops for galaxy researchers worldwide co-sponsored by UC-HiPACC were held at UCSC in August 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.[18]

Cosmological simulations

Large cosmological simulations are now the basis for much current research on the structure of the universe and the evolution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. “Numerical simulations have become one of the most effective tools to study and to solve astrophysical problems.”[19]

Project AGORA

In 2012, the center launched a galaxy supercomputer simulation project called AGORA (Assembling Galaxies of Resolved Anatomy).[20][21][22][23][24][25] [26] [27]

Bolshoi simulation

The Bolshoi cosmological simulation (q.v.) is the most accurate cosmological simulation of the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe made to date.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34]

Education of public and other outreach

Planetarium shows for which UC-HiPACC members have contributed astronomical computations and images include “Life: A Cosmic Story” in the 75-foot dome of the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco, and “Deep Space Adventure” in the 71-foot 8000 pixel-across dome of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.[35][36]

A visualization from the Bolshoi cosmological simulation was narrated in the National Geographic TV special Inside the Milky Way.[37] UC-HiPACC provided footage from the Bolshoi simulation to the Icelandic performer Björk for her musical number “Dark Matter” for her Biophilia concert.[35]

References

  1. ^ Primack, Joel. "Welcome from the Director". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  2. ^ "Joel R. Primack". UC Santa Cruz Department of Physics. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  3. ^ "The University of California High Performance AstroComputing Center | Consortium & Leadership". hipacc.ucsc.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  4. ^ "Contact Us!". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  5. ^ "Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology". Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  6. ^ Brown, J.M. (21 July 2009). "Four UCSC programs receive research grants". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  7. ^ "UC MultiCampus Research Programs & Initiatives Competition Results – June 2009 Awards List" (PDF). Research Grants Program Office. University of California Office of the President. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  8. ^ Dawson, William. "The Merging Cluster Collaboration wins funding by UC-HiPACC". Merging Cluster Collaboration. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  9. ^ "Missions & Goals. What We Do". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  10. ^ "The First Three Years: 2010–2012" (PDF). University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. p. 3. Retrieved 9 Jan 2014.
  11. ^ "UC-HiPACC 2010 Annual Report". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 7 Jan 2014.
  12. ^ "Enzo". Enzo version 2.0. UC San Diego. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  13. ^ "Enzo Workshop at UCSD". UC San Diego. Retrieved 7 Jan 2014.
  14. ^ "Computational Astronomy: From Planets to Cosmos webpage". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 7 Jan 2014.
  15. ^ "First Science Journalism Boot Camp in Computational Astronomy Held at UCSC". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 7 Jan 2014.
  16. ^ Bell, Trudy E. "From ScienceWriters: A computational astronomy boot camp". ScienceWriters magazine. The National Association of Science Writers. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  17. ^ "2012 Science Engineering Journalism Boot Camp PlayList". shelf3d. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  18. ^ "HiPACC Conferences & Workshops". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved 7 Jan 2014.
  19. ^ Moscardini, Lauro; Dolag, Klaus. "Cosmology with numerical simulations" (PDF). Institute of Sciences of the Cosmos. Universitat de Barcelona. Retrieved 9 Jan 2014.
  20. ^ "Astrophysicists launch ambitious assessment of galaxy formation simulations". Phys.org. Science X network. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  21. ^ Ji-hoon, Kim. "The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison". Google Sites. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  22. ^ "Project AGORA Home". Project AGORA: Assembling Galaxies Of Resolved Anatomy. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 12 Jan 2014.
  23. ^ "Announcing project agora: Ambitious comparison of computer simulations of galaxy evolution". National Science Foundation News. National Science Foundation. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  24. ^ "Astrophysicists Launch Ambitious Assessment of Galaxy Formation Simulations". ScienceNewsline Space. ScienceNewsline. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  25. ^ Bell, Trudy E. "AstroShort – December 2013. AGORA: Seeing the Invisible Elephant". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  26. ^ Bell, Trudy E. "Worldwide Collaboration Announces Project Agora: Ambitious Comparison of High-Resolution Computer Simulations of Galaxy Formation and Evolution". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. University of California. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  27. ^ Ji-hoon, Kim (1970). "The AGORA High-Resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 210 (14). Cornell University Library: 14. arXiv:1308.2669. Bibcode:2014ApJS..210...14K. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/210/1/14. S2CID 250871554.
  28. ^ Stephens, Tim. "Scientists release most accurate simulation of the universe to date". Phys.org. Science X network. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  29. ^ Primack, Joel; Bell, Trudy E. (July 2012). "Universe on Fast Forward". Sky & Telescope. 124 (1): 28–35. Bibcode:2012S&T...124a..29P.
  30. ^ Jenvey, Karen. "NASA Supercomputer Enables Largest Cosmological Simulations". NASA Ames Research Center. NASA. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  31. ^ Stephens, Tim. "Astrophysicists launch ambitious assessment of galaxy formation simulations". Phys.org. Science X network. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  32. ^ Kanipe, Jeff (2012). "Cosmic simulations". Communications of the ACM. 55 (8): 13–15. doi:10.1145/2240236.2240241. S2CID 36629444.
  33. ^ Tolentino, Mellisa. "SiliconANGLE » The Origin Of The Galaxies: According To Pleiades The Supercomputer The Origin of the Galaxies: According to Pleiades the Supercomputer". SiliconANGLE. SiliconANGLE. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  34. ^ Boyle, Alan. "How to build a virtual cosmos". NBC News Science. NBC. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
  35. ^ a b "Education & Public Outreach". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  36. ^ Morrison Planetarium. "Life, A Cosmic Story, credits tab, Science Data and Simulations". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 13 Jan 2014.
  37. ^ "Excerpts from "Inside the Milky Way", produced by National Geographic TV". University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 9 Jan 2014.