ISSN: 1935-0570 |
Cover story: Interview with George Cotter, p8
Cover image: Merging Black Holes, p12
"Cross" polarization of gravitational radiation from the merger of two
equal-mass, spinning black holes. The gray sphere at the center
represents the horizon of the final merged black hole. Visualization
courtesy of Chris Henze at NASA Ames Research Center. |
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CONTENTS
ISSUE 8 SUMMER 2008 |
| 4 |
| NEWS |
| SciDAC News, Activities, and Announcements
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| 8 |
| INTERVIEW: GEORGE COTTER |
COVER STORY |
High-End Computing and National Security
George Cotter recently answered our questions about hardware, software, science, and national security. |
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| 12 |
| ASTROPHYSICS |
Computing Cosmic Cataclysms
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How do black hole mergers rock the foundations of spacetime with
gravitational waves? This is a question of great scientific importance,
as the study of gravitational waves will allow tests of the general
theory of relativity. |
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| 24 |
| CENTER: VISUALIZATION AND ANALYTICS |
Seeing the Unseeable
The SciDAC Visualization and Analytics Center for Enabling Technologies
(VACET) combines the forces of leading visualization researchers to
solve some of the most challenging data understanding problems in
modern science. |
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| 34 |
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MODELING |
Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation for Exascale Computing
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Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have been successfully using
a new modeling paradigm—agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS)—to
address challenges and gain valuable insights in such key areas as
energy, biology, economics, and social sciences. |
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| 42 |
| HARDWARE |
The Advantages of First-Generation Heterogeneous Computing on the Cray XT5h
Heterogeneous computing—the use of different computers connected by a
network to solve a problem in parallel—offers the promise of
significantly improving performance by running different parts of an
application with different computational requirements on specialized
pieces of hardware. |
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| 50 |
| QUANTUM MECHANICS |
Quantum Spin Doctors Dissect Exotic States of Matter
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With over a million processor hours provided by a DOE INCITE grant,
researchers are working on simulations that shed light on two
unfamiliar quantum phases, Bose–Einstein condensation and Bose glass. |
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| 58 |
| EDITORIAL: DR. HORST SIMON |
Addressing the Challenges of Large-Scale Data
Dr. Horst Simon, SciDAC Review Editorial Board member, discusses the challenge of scientific discovery in the light of ever-increasing data. |
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| 60 |
| BACK COVER: INCITE |
Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment
DOE's INCITE Program enables high-impact science through large allocations on supercomputers at NERSC, Oak Ridge, Argonne, and Pacific Northwest national laboratories. |
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