Jeffrey R. Pier
AST Division of Astronomical Sciences
MPS Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Start Date:
August 1, 2004
Expires:
July 31, 2008 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:
$371151
Investigator(s):
David Merritt merritt@astro.rit.edu (Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:
Rochester Institute of Tech
1 LOMB MEMORIAL DR
ROCHESTER, NY 14623 585/475-7525
NSF Program(s):
MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):
OTHR, 1206, 0000
Program Element Code(s):
1189
ABSTRACT
AST-0420920/Merritt, Rochester Inst of Technology
A Beowulf cluster of computers, with each node connected to a special-purpose computer for simulating gravitational interactions, will be expanded from 8 to 32 nodes. The final system will be the largest of its kind in the world and will be capable of simulating N-body systems with particle numbers up to approximately 50,000,000 at speeds of approximately 4 terraflops. Simulations will cover the dynamics of galactic nuclei, in particular the interactions of single and binary supermassive black holes with stars and compact objects. Undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in all aspects of the construction, use, and maintenance of the cluster through a users group at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the cluster will be made available to collaborators outside of the Rochester Institute of Technology through a collaborative consortium.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Andras Szell, David Merritt, Ioannis G. Kevrekidis. "Core Collapse via Coarse Dynamic Renormalization," Physical Review Letters, v.95, 2005, p. 081102.
Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R; Leccese, L; Merritt, D; Vicari, A. "Self-consistent models of cuspy triaxial galaxies with dark matter halos," ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, v.666, 2007, p. 165-180.
David Merritt. "Dynamics of galaxy cores and supermassive black holes," Reports on Progress in Physics, v.69, 2006, p. 2513.
David Merritt. "A Note on Gravitational Brownian Motion," The Astrophysical Journal, v.628, 2005, p. 673.
David Merritt. "Mass Deficits, Stalling Radii, and the Merger Histories of Elliptical Galaxies," The Astrophysical Journal, v.648, 2006, p. 976.
David Merritt
Milos Milosavljevic. "Massive Black Hole Binary Evolution," Living Reviews in Relativity, v.8, 2005, p. 8.
David Merritt, Andras Szell. "Dynamical Cusp Regeneration," The Astrophysical Journal, v.648, 2006, p. 890.
David Merritt, Peter Berczik, Frederik Laun. "Brownian Motion of Black Holes in Dense Nuclei," The Astronomical Journal, v.133, 2007, p. 553.
David Merritt, Stefan Harfst, Gianfranco Bertone. "Collisionally regenerated dark matter structures in galactic nuclei," The Physical Review D, v.75, 2007, p. 043517.
Gualandris, Alessia; Merritt, David. "Ejection of Supermassive Black Holes from Galaxy Cores," The Astrophysical Journal, v.678, 2008, p. 708.
Harfst, Stefan; Gualandris, Alessia; Merritt, David; Spurzem, Rainer; Portegies Zwart, Simon; Berczik, Peter. "Performance analysis of direct N-body algorithms on special-purpose supercomputers," New Astronomy, v.12, 2007, p. 357.
Komossa, Stefanie; Merritt, David. "Tidal Disruption Flares from Recoiling Supermassive Black Holes," The Astrophysical Journal Letters, v.683, 2008, p. L21.
Merritt, David; Mikkola, Seppo; Szell, Andras. "Long-Term Evolution of Massive Black Hole Binaries. III. Binary Evolution in Collisional Nuclei," The Astrophysical Journal, v.671, 2007, p. 53.
Mikkola, Seppo; Merritt, David. "Implementing Few-Body Algorithmic Regularization with Post-Newtonian Terms," The Astronomical Journal,, v.135, 2008, p. 2398.
Peter Berczik
David Merritt
Rainer Spurzem. "Long-Term Evolution of Massive Black Hole Binaries," Astronomische Nachrichten, v.326, 2005, p. 589.
Peter Berczik, David Merritt, Rainer Spurzem. "Long-Term Evolution of Massive Black Hole Binaries. II. Binary Evolution in Low-Density Galaxies," The Astrophysical Journal, v.633, 2005, p. 680.
Peter Berczik, David Merritt, Rainer Spurzem, Hans-Peter Bischof. "Efficient Merger of Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Nonaxisymmetric Galaxies," The Astrophysical Journal, v.642, 2006, p. L21.
Seppo Mikkola, David Merritt. "Algorithmic regularization with velocity-dependent forces," Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v.372, 2006, p. 219.
Stefan Harfst
David Merritt. "GRAPE clusters: beyond the million-body problem," Astronomische Nachrichten, v.326, 2005, p. 593.
Vicari, A; Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R; Merritt, D. "Consequences of triaxiality for gravitational wave recoil of black holes," ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, v.662, 2007, p. 797-807.
