Astronomy 415 - Spring 2009“Computational Astrophysics”InstructorProf. Massimo RicottiOffice: CSS 0213E-mail: [email protected]: (301) 405 5097Office hours: Tu 2:30-3:30Class web page: htt p://www.astro.umd.edu/∼ricotti/NEWWEB/teaching/ASTR415-09.htmlClass ScheduleLectures on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30pm to 13:45pmRoom CSS 242 8SYLLABUSThe course does not r equire previous programming experience but if you do not knowhow to programm already, by the end of this course, you will! My ”native” programminglanguage is the old For t ran77, but to make this course more exciting I will refresh my Cand Java knowledge and pretend I know how to program in those languages t oo. Alongthe way I may complement the lectures with power point presentations available on theweb on computational astrophysics. I will keep the webpage updated and link all thecourse material there.Course DescriptionThis course will provide the astronomy student with a basic knowledge o f numerical meth-ods in astrophysics. By the end of the course students should be comfort able working in aUnix environment, compiling and running codes, and employing a variety of visualizationtechniques to analyze the results. This process will be motivated by concrete examples ofmodern problems in astrophysics that demand numerical approaches.The exact details of the material covered will depend on the existing level of computersophistication among the class participant s. However, in broad outline the major coursetopics will include linear algebra, root finding, least-square fitting, Monte Carlo methods,numerical integration, N-body methods, fluid dynamics, FFTs and time-series analysis.Recommended TextsThere is no required text for this course. The following recommendations may be helpfulto you. Note that much of the course material will follow, Numerical Recipes, which isavailable online. Most in-class programming examples will be in Fortran77, but you arefree to chose from any suitable languages for completing the assignments.1Aarseth, S. J. 2003, “Gravitational -body Simulations: Tools and Algorithms,” CambridgeUniv. Press.Hockney, R. W., and J. W. Eastwood 1988, “Computer Simulation Using Particles,”Hilger. [Out of print?]Kernigan, B. W., and D. M. Ritchie 1988, “The C Programming Language” (2nd ed.),Prentice-Hall.Peek, J. D., et al. 1997, “Learning the Unix Operating System (Nutshell Handbook)”(4th ed.), O’Reilly.Prata, S. 1998, “The Waite Group’s C Primer Plus” (3rd ed.), Howard W. Sams & Co.Press, W.H. et al. 1992, “Numerical Recipes in Fortran [or C or C++]” (2nd ed.),Cambridge Univ Press - visit the website at http://www.nr.com/.Yee, H.C. 1989, “A class of High-resolution Explicit and Implicit Shock-Capturing Meth-ods”, Tech. Report Lecture Series 1 989-04, von Karman Institute of F luid Dynamics[difficult to find?]Course GradingA 87.5% and aboveB 75 to below 87.5%C 62.5 to below 75%D 50 to below 62 .5%F below 5 0%There will be no exams in this course. Grades will be determined by homework assign-ments plus one term paper. The a ssignments will be worth 80% of your final grade; theterm paper will be 20%.There will be no curve on the final grades. There may need to be some adjustmentto scores depending on the class average; however, any adjustment will be to lower thepercentag es given above, never to raise them.AssignmentsMost assignments involve programming exercises. To make evaluating your work easier,you must e-mail me a single “stand-alone” file containing all your work by the start ofclass on the day the assignment is due. The file (e.g., a gizp tar archive or a zip file)must contain a suitable formatted response (e.g., PDF, Poscript, Word document, etc) tothe questions posed in the assignment, alo ng with a description of the remaining contentsof the file, including, as needed, instructions on compiling and running any source code.Ideally a Makefile should be provided. Any static graphical output (plots, etc.) shouldbe embedded in the response document.I will compile and run your code with a set of test parameters to ensure correct function-ality and error handling. I will also consider your coding style when evaluating your work.I discourage the use o f any programming language other than Fortran77, Fortran90, Cand C++.2Assignments that are la te will automatically incur a 20% penalty unless there are extenu-ating circumstances. Late assignments must be completed before the solutions are postedon the web to get any credit.You may work in g roups to discuss programming strategy, but you must submit your ownsolution to each assignment. Note that, just as for written prose, it is necessary t o citethe source of any algorithms you use in completing assignments. This includes NumericalRecipes routines that you use.Students with Special NeedsStudents with a documented disability who wish to discuss academic accommodatio nsshould contact me as soon as possible.3Tentative Course OutlineDate Lecture Reading (NRiC)#1 Jan 27 Introduction to the course and survey –#2 Jan 29 Computer architecture, part 1 –#3 Feb 03 Computer architecture, part 2 –#4 Feb 05 Introduction to UNIX tutorial#5 Feb 10 Introduction to C 1.1-1.2, tutorial#6 Feb 12 Introduction to visualization tutorial#7 Feb 17 Data representation 1.3#8 Feb 19 Linear algebra, part 1 (Gauss-Jordan elimination) 2.0-2.3#9 Feb 24 Linear algebra, part 2 (LU & SVD decomposition) 2.4-2.6#10 Feb 26 Ro ot finding in 1-D 9.0-9.1, 9.4, 9.6#11 Mar 03 Root finding in multi-D, and numerical differentiation 5.7#12 Mar 05 Statistics a nd the K-S test 14.0-14.3#13 Mar 10 Least-squares fitting 15.0-15.2, 15.4-15.5#14 Mar 12 Random numbers and cryptography 7.0-7.2– Mar 17 no class (Spring break) –– Mar 19 no class (Spring break) –#15 Mar 24 Numerical integration 7.6, 4.0-4.4, 4.6#16 Mar 26 Integrat io n of ODEs, part 1 (IVPs) 16.0-16.1#17 Mar 31 Integrat io n of ODEs, part 2 (leapfrog) –#18 Apr 02 Integrat io n of ODEs, part 3 (stiff ODEs & 2-pt BVPs) 16.6, 17.0#19 Apr 07 N-body techniques, part 1 –#20 Apr 09 N-body techniques, part 2 (PP) –#21 Apr 14 N-body techniques, part 3 (PM) 19.0, 19 .4-19.6#22 Apr 16 N-body techniques, part 4 (tree) –#23 Apr 21 Integrat io n of PDEs, part 1 (ell & hyp) 19.0-19.1#24 Apr 23 Integrat io n of PDEs, part 2 (hyp & par) 19.2#25 Apr 28 Fluid dynamics, part 1 (eqns) –#26 Apr 30 Fluid dynamics, part 2 (methods) 19.3#27 May 05 Miscellaneous topics –#28 May 07 Term proj ect