When you are asked to simulate the flow of gas in some corner of the universe, the first thing you need is a system of equations that govern the same. But let’s just say you have found yourself a closed, well posed system of equations, what next? The next choice one has to make is the method by which to solve the found system of equations. There are two broad classes to the same: Eulerian and Lagrangian. With an Eulerian approach, you divide the region of space into smaller regions, a grid, and simulate transport over the grid over time, giving you snapshots of how the grid looks at a…
Read More >>Tracing floors and non-floor densities in GRMHD simulations: Prospects and Preliminary results
The introduction of density and internal energy floors is seemingly unphysical, but at the same time, a necessary feature of General-Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The open magnetic field lines in the polar regions of our code that thread the black hole Event Horizon become devoid of any matter/energy due to the outflow boundaries at the inner (horizon) and outer grid radii, causing the plasma to either be expelled, or eaten up by the black hole. Given the vacuum-phobic nature of the GRMHD equations, one has to artificially inject some energy and density if the local values of the same in a cell (in the drift frame of the jet, ensures conserved…
Read More >>Understanding data through other senses: Data Sonification
A lot of what we interpret from our astronomical telescopes is either through images/videos or raw data rendered understandable through physical plots in real or Fourier spaces. But what if we can render that data to cater to the other human senses? In this blog article I discuss very briefly the mechanics of data sonification as I understand it. I recently came across the Audio Universe mission (https://www.audiouniverse.org/home) which aims to collect tools in order to support a plethora of target audience ranging from scientists, outreach managers, educators, students and the general masses to represent data as sound. In addition to the research potential of sonification, what particularly caught my…
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