KDI: An Astrophysics Simulation Collaboratory: Enabling Large Scale Simulations in Relativistic Astrophysics

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Astrophysical and computer science research will be carried out to bring the numerical treatment of the Einstein theory of general relativity to the astrophysics community at large. The project will produce a new community tool for research on problems involving strong-gravity astrophysical systems, such as neutron stars and black holes. It will also develop new computing technologies that allow simulation computer codes on massively parallel machines to be simultaneously developed and used by a large, multidisciplinary, and distributed community of researchers. To deal with the complexity and richness of the Einstein theory when applied to realistic astrophysical phenomena, simultaneous advances in computation, visualization, and numerical algorithms will be developed. To deal with the complexity of the resulting simulation code and the range of problems to which it can be applied, a simulation-centered "collaboratory" will be developed that can support a large user and developer community and that will reduce the barriers to experimentation and exploration. The development of this simulation collaboratory will be driven by the astrophysically significant problem of the collapse of a neutron star to a black hole induced by accretion of mass from its surroundings. The problem will be studied in the Einstein theory of general relativity with relativistic hydrodynamics and nuclear astrophysics also incorporated, and making use of all major components in the collaboratory.The impact of the project will be in the new frontiers of gravitational-wave astronomy and high energy (gamma-ray and X-ray) astronomies. The inclusion of the full Einstein theory in the study of realistic astrophysical processes, when coupled with observational data from new high-energy satellites and imminent gravitational-wave observatories (such as the US Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project) will lead to far-reaching scientific discoveries capable of attracting the attention of a large scientific community and the general public. The successful establishment of a new model for the collaborative development and the use of simulation computer codes, exploiting high-speed connectivity not only between computers but also between researchers, will have a significant impact on other research communities.