Dr. Eric Hallman is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Dr. Hallman will generate sophisticated synthetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-effect, weak-lensing, and x-ray sky surveys of an unprecedented physical volume representing a significant fraction of the observable universe (~2(h-1Gpc)3). These large calculations will enable surveys with both large sky coverage (~100 deg2) and high angular resolution (5-10"). These survey simulations represent a major advance in realism, computation and science output. They are ideally suited for development of data-analysis pipelines, tuning techniques for extracting cosmological parameters, and understanding the systematic effects of inherent variation in galaxy clusters in real surveys. This project will also result in a set of novel, publicly available tools that accurately model the background, instrumental characteristics, and output data format so observational data reduction tools can be applied directly to the simulated survey output.
Dr. Hallman will also create innovative course modules for classes in astronomy and cosmology using data generated by numerical simulations. The modules will be easily adaptable to various astrophysics courses and will consist of teaching and visualization tools that enhance students' physical intuition and invigorate the teaching of science with visual and numerical tools that excite the student.
