90 research outputs found
Fast Calculation of the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram Using Graphics Processing Units
I introduce a new code for fast calculation of the Lomb-Scargle periodogram,
that leverages the computing power of graphics processing units (GPUs). After
establishing a background to the newly emergent field of GPU computing, I
discuss the code design and narrate key parts of its source. Benchmarking
calculations indicate no significant differences in accuracy compared to an
equivalent CPU-based code. However, the differences in performance are
pronounced; running on a low-end GPU, the code can match 8 CPU cores, and on a
high-end GPU it is faster by a factor approaching thirty. Applications of the
code include analysis of long photometric time series obtained by ongoing
satellite missions and upcoming ground-based monitoring facilities; and
Monte-Carlo simulation of periodogram statistical properties.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. Accompanying program source (updated since
acceptance) can be downloaded from
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/resource/download/code/culsp.tar.g
Hydrodynamical simulations of colliding jets:modeling 3C 75
Radio observations suggest that 3C 75, located in the dumbbell shaped galaxy
NGC 1128 at the center of Abell 400, hosts two colliding jets. Motivated by
this source, we perform three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations using a
modified version of the GPU-accelerated Adaptive-MEsh-Refinement hydrodynamical
parallel code () to study colliding extragalactic jets. We find
that colliding jets can be cast into two categories: 1) bouncing jets, in which
case the jets bounce off each other keeping their identities, and 2) merging
jets, when only one jet emerges from the collision. Under some conditions the
interaction causes the jets to break up into oscillating filaments of opposite
helicity, with consequences for their downstream stability. When one jet is
significantly faster than the other and the impact parameter is small, the jets
merge; the faster jet takes over the slower one. In the case of merging jets,
the oscillations of the filaments, in projection, may show a feature which
resembles a double helix, similar to the radio image of 3C 75. Thus we
interpret the morphology of 3C 75 as a consequence of the collision of two jets
with distinctly different speeds at a small impact parameter, with the faster
jet breaking up into two oscillating filaments.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Schrdinger-Poisson equations as the large-N limit of the Newtonian N-body system: applications to the large scale dark matter dynamics
In this paper it is argued how the dynamics of the classical Newtonian N-body
system can be described in terms of the Schrdinger-Poisson equations
in the large limit. This result is based on the stochastic quantization
introduced by Nelson, and on the Calogero conjecture. According to the Calogero
conjecture, the emerging effective Planck constant is computed in terms of the
parameters of the N-body system as , where is the gravitational constant, and are the
number and the mass of the bodies, and is their average density. The
relevance of this result in the context of large scale structure formation is
discussed. In particular, this finding gives a further argument in support of
the validity of the Schrdinger method as numerical double of the
N-body simulations of dark matter dynamics at large cosmological scales.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Euro. Phys. J.
Ultra Light Axionic Dark Matter: Galactic Halos and Implications for Observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays
The cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm successfully explains the cosmic structure over an enormous span of redshifts. However, it fails when probing the innermost regions of dark matter halos and the properties of the Milky Way’s dwarf galaxy satellites. Moreover, the lack of experimental detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) favors alternative candidates such as light axionic dark matter that naturally arise in string theory. Cosmological N-body simulations have shown that axionic dark matter forms a solitonic core of size of ≃150 pc in the innermost region of the galactic halos. The oscillating scalar field associated to the axionic dark matter halo produces an oscillating gravitational potential that induces a time dilation of the pulse arrival time of ≃400 ns/(m B /10 −22 eV) for pulsar within such a solitonic core. Over the whole galaxy, the averaged predicted signal may be detectable with current and forthcoming pulsar timing array telescopes.IDM acknowledges financial support from University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU under the program "Convocatoria de contratacion para la especializacion de personal investigador doctor en la UPV/EHU 2015", from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad through research project FIS2010-15492, and from the Basque Government through research project IT-956-16. RL is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through research projects FIS2010-15492 and Consolider EPI CSD2010-00064, and by the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU under program UFI 11/55. IDM and RL also acknowledge support from the COST Action CA1511 Cosmology and Astrophysics Network for Theoretical Advances and Training Actions (CANTATA). TJB acknowledges generous hospitality from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Hong Kong and helpful conversations with Nick Kaiser and Kfir Blum. SHHT is supported by CRF Grant HKUST4/CRF/13G and GRF 16305414 issued by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR. Chipbond Technology Corporation is acknowledged for donating the GPU cluster with which this work was conducted. This work was supported in part by the National Science Council of Taiwan under grants NSC100-2112-M-002-018-MY3 and NSC99-2112-M-002-009-MY
Complete waveform model for compact binaries on eccentric orbits
We present a time domain waveform model that describes the inspiral-merger-ringdown (IMR) of compact binary systems whose components are non-spinning, and which evolve on orbits with low to moderate eccentricity. The inspiral evolution is described using third order post-Newtonian equations both for the equations of motion of the binary, and its far-zone radiation field. This latter component also includes instantaneous, tails and tails-of-tails contributions, and a contribution due to non-linear memory. This framework reduces to the post-Newtonian approximant TaylorT4 at third post-Newtonian order in the zero eccentricity limit. To improve phase accuracy, we incorporate higher-order post-Newtonian corrections for the energy flux of quasi-circular binaries and gravitational self-force corrections to the binding energy of compact binaries. This enhanced inspiral evolution prescription is combined with an analytical prescription for the merger-ringdown evolution using a catalog of numerical relativity simulations. This IMR waveform model reproduces effective-one-body waveforms for systems with mass-ratios between 1 to 15 in the zero eccentricity limit. Using a set of eccentric numerical relativity simulations, not used during calibration, we show that our eccentric model accurately reproduces the features of eccentric compact binary coalescence throughout the merger. Using this model we show that the gravitational wave transients GW150914 and GW151226 can be effectively recovered with template banks of quasi-circular, spin-aligned waveforms if the eccentricity of these systems when they enter the aLIGO band at a gravitational wave frequency of 14 Hz satisfies and
PyCOOL - a Cosmological Object-Oriented Lattice code written in Python
There are a number of different phenomena in the early universe that have to
be studied numerically with lattice simulations. This paper presents a graphics
processing unit (GPU) accelerated Python program called PyCOOL that solves the
evolution of scalar fields in a lattice with very precise symplectic
integrators. The program has been written with the intention to hit a sweet
spot of speed, accuracy and user friendliness. This has been achieved by using
the Python language with the PyCUDA interface to make a program that is easy to
adapt to different scalar field models. In this paper we derive the symplectic
dynamics that govern the evolution of the system and then present the
implementation of the program in Python and PyCUDA. The functionality of the
program is tested in a chaotic inflation preheating model, a single field
oscillon case and in a supersymmetric curvaton model which leads to Q-ball
production. We have also compared the performance of a consumer graphics card
to a professional Tesla compute card in these simulations. We find that the
program is not only accurate but also very fast. To further increase the
usefulness of the program we have equipped it with numerous post-processing
functions that provide useful information about the cosmological model. These
include various spectra and statistics of the fields. The program can be
additionally used to calculate the generated curvature perturbation. The
program is publicly available under GNU General Public License at
https://github.com/jtksai/PyCOOL . Some additional information can be found
from http://www.physics.utu.fi/tiedostot/theory/particlecosmology/pycool/ .Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures; some typos correcte
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