The investigators intend to create the next generation of scientific visualization systems, with particular application to the results of magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of black hole accretion. Complex simulations of this sort require an application which is more flexible and much more easily manipulated by users who are not computer specialists than any existing technique. The new system will emphasize speed and ease of use, and tying system development to a specific scientific problem will ensure that it is realistically designed and well tested. The PIs already have a prototype system, but it requires significant enhancement to become a working tool for scientific analysis, particularly in the areas of interactive data set combination, hierarchical visualization of vector fields, and graphics-hardware-compatible compression and decompression.
Using this interactive system will deepen our understanding of accretion, by showing characteristic timescales and thus which process is dominating the dynamics, by defining the topology of the magnetic field lines, and by enabling investigation of quasi-periodic oscillations. It will also explore the generation of stresses in accretion flows, how energy release is controlled, and where energy is dissipated.
The research will provide a solid basis for user-guided visualization in many other scientific fields, through public availability of the developed system. It will train graduate students in both sophisticated data analysis and computer systems development, and it will expose undergraduates to sophisticated problems.
