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

将开展天体物理学和计算机科学研究，将爱因斯坦广义相对论的数值处理带给天体物理学界。该项目将产生一个新的社区工具，用于研究涉及强引力天体物理系统的问题，如中子星和黑洞。它还将开发新的计算技术，允许大规模并行机器上的模拟计算机代码同时开发，并由大型、多学科和分布式的研究人员社区使用。为了处理爱因斯坦理论在应用于实际天体物理现象时的复杂性和丰富性，计算、可视化和数值算法将同时得到发展。为了处理生成的模拟代码的复杂性和它可以应用的问题范围，将开发一个以模拟为中心的“协作实验室”，它可以支持大型用户和开发人员社区，并将减少实验和探索的障碍。这个模拟实验室的发展将受到天体物理学的重大问题的驱动，即中子星坍缩成黑洞是由其周围的质量吸积引起的。该问题将在爱因斯坦广义相对论中进行研究，并结合相对论流体力学和核天体物理学，并利用合作实验室的所有主要组成部分。该项目的影响将在引力波天文学和高能（伽马射线和x射线）天文学的新前沿。将完整的爱因斯坦理论纳入现实天体物理过程的研究，再加上来自新的高能卫星和即将建成的引力波天文台（如美国激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）项目）的观测数据，将会产生影响深远的科学发现，能够吸引大型科学界和公众的注意。成功建立一种协作开发和使用模拟计算机代码的新模式，利用计算机之间以及研究人员之间的高速连接，将对其他研究社区产生重大影响。

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.