2,242 research outputs found
Incorporating interactive 3-dimensional graphics in astronomy research papers
Most research data collections created or used by astronomers are
intrinsically multi-dimensional. In contrast, all visual representations of
data presented within research papers are exclusively 2-dimensional. We present
a resolution of this dichotomy that uses a novel technique for embedding
3-dimensional (3-d) visualisations of astronomy data sets in electronic-format
research papers. Our technique uses the latest Adobe Portable Document Format
extensions together with a new version of the S2PLOT programming library. The
3-d models can be easily rotated and explored by the reader and, in some cases,
modified. We demonstrate example applications of this technique including: 3-d
figures exhibiting subtle structure in redshift catalogues, colour-magnitude
diagrams and halo merger trees; 3-d isosurface and volume renderings of
cosmological simulations; and 3-d models of instructional diagrams and
instrument designs.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, submitted to New Astronomy. For paper with
3-dimensional embedded figures, see http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/s2plot/3dpd
Incorporating interactive 3-dimensional graphics in astronomy research papers
Most research data collections created or used by astronomers are
intrinsically multi-dimensional. In contrast, all visual representations of
data presented within research papers are exclusively 2-dimensional. We present
a resolution of this dichotomy that uses a novel technique for embedding
3-dimensional (3-d) visualisations of astronomy data sets in electronic-format
research papers. Our technique uses the latest Adobe Portable Document Format
extensions together with a new version of the S2PLOT programming library. The
3-d models can be easily rotated and explored by the reader and, in some cases,
modified. We demonstrate example applications of this technique including: 3-d
figures exhibiting subtle structure in redshift catalogues, colour-magnitude
diagrams and halo merger trees; 3-d isosurface and volume renderings of
cosmological simulations; and 3-d models of instructional diagrams and
instrument designs.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, submitted to New Astronomy. For paper with
3-dimensional embedded figures, see http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/s2plot/3dpd
Tangos: the agile numerical galaxy organization system
We present Tangos, a Python framework and web interface for database-driven
analysis of numerical structure formation simulations. To understand the role
that such a tool can play, consider constructing a history for the absolute
magnitude of each galaxy within a simulation. The magnitudes must first be
calculated for all halos at all timesteps and then linked using a merger tree;
folding the required information into a final analysis can entail significant
effort. Tangos is a generic solution to this information organization problem,
aiming to free users from the details of data management. At the querying
stage, our example of gathering properties over history is reduced to a few
clicks or a simple, single-line Python command. The framework is highly
extensible; in particular, users are expected to define their own properties
which tangos will write into the database. A variety of parallelization options
are available and the raw simulation data can be read using existing libraries
such as pynbody or yt. Finally, tangos-based databases and analysis pipelines
can easily be shared with collaborators or the broader community to ensure
reproducibility. User documentation is provided separately.Comment: Clarified various points and further improved code performance;
accepted for publication in ApJS. Tutorials (including video) at
http://tiny.cc/tango
Report from the Tri-Agency Cosmological Simulation Task Force
The Tri-Agency Cosmological Simulations (TACS) Task Force was formed when
Program Managers from the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF)
expressed an interest in receiving input into the cosmological simulations
landscape related to the upcoming DOE/NSF Vera Rubin Observatory (Rubin),
NASA/ESA's Euclid, and NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
The Co-Chairs of TACS, Katrin Heitmann and Alina Kiessling, invited community
scientists from the USA and Europe who are each subject matter experts and are
also members of one or more of the surveys to contribute. The following report
represents the input from TACS that was delivered to the Agencies in December
2018.Comment: 36 pages, 3 figures. Delivered to NASA, NSF, and DOE in Dec 201
GPU Accelerated Particle Visualization with Splotch
Splotch is a rendering algorithm for exploration and visual discovery in
particle-based datasets coming from astronomical observations or numerical
simulations. The strengths of the approach are production of high quality
imagery and support for very large-scale datasets through an effective mix of
the OpenMP and MPI parallel programming paradigms. This article reports our
experiences in re-designing Splotch for exploiting emerging HPC architectures
nowadays increasingly populated with GPUs. A performance model is introduced
for data transfers, computations and memory access, to guide our re-factoring
of Splotch. A number of parallelization issues are discussed, in particular
relating to race conditions and workload balancing, towards achieving optimal
performances. Our implementation was accomplished by using the CUDA programming
paradigm. Our strategy is founded on novel schemes achieving optimized data
organisation and classification of particles. We deploy a reference simulation
to present performance results on acceleration gains and scalability. We
finally outline our vision for future work developments including possibilities
for further optimisations and exploitation of emerging technologies.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. Astronomy and Computing (2014
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