Related papers: Reconstructing the Universe in a computer: physica…
Our knowledge about the universe has increased tremendously in the last three decades or so --- thanks to the progress in observations --- but our understanding has improved very little. There are several fundamental questions about our…
Computational physics is a key part of what it means to do physics in the twenty-first century. However, upper division computational physics remains a largely understudied area. We set out to understand the experiences of students in an…
A timely combination of new theoretical ideas and observational discoveries has brought about significant advances in our understanding of cosmic evolution. Computer simulations have played a key role in these developments by providing the…
The purpose of the New York Workshop on Computer, Earth and Space Sciences is to bring together the New York area's finest Astronomers, Statisticians, Computer Scientists, Space and Earth Scientists to explore potential synergies between…
Reconstructing the density fluctuations in the early Universe that evolved into the distribution of galaxies we see today is a challenge of modern cosmology [ref.]. An accurate reconstruction would allow us to test cosmological models by…
Cosmic structure simulations have improved enormously over the past decade, both in terms of the resolution which can be achieved, and with the addition of hydrodynamic and other techniques to formerly purely gravitational methods. This is…
Numerical relativity has made big strides over the last decade. A number of problems that have plagued the field for years have now been mostly solved. This progress has transformed numerical relativity into a powerful tool to explore…
A brief remembrance of some aspects of the author's scientific interaction with Stephen Hawking. A contribution to Physics Today's March 14, 2018 web page in which Stephen Hawking is remembered by his colleagues.
I review at the non-specialist level recent progress in the study of the large-scale structure of the Universe, covering the following areas: (1) Results from recently completed or ongoing redshift surveys of galaxies and X-ray clusters;…
I review progress in the past few years in studying the large-scale structure of the universe through redshift surveys of galaxies. Of the many statistical methods used to describe the galaxy distribution, I concentrate here on the power…
The digitization of historical astronomical plates is essential for preserving century-long observational data. This work presents the development and application of the specialized digitizers at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory…
In this short review we study the state of the art of the great problems in cosmology and their interrelationships. The reconciliation of these problems passes undoubtedly through the idea of a quantum universe.
This article reviews the history of digital computation, and investigates just how far the concept of computation can be taken. In particular, I address the question of whether the universe itself is in fact a giant computer, and if so,…
In the half century since the 1950s computer simulation has transformed our understanding of physics. The rare, expensive, slow, and bulky mainframes of World War II have given way to today's millions of cheap, fast, desksized workstations…
We have created a show about the Solar System, freely available for both planetariums and home viewing, where objects in space are represented with sound as well as with visuals. For example, the audience listens to the stars appear above…
The last 20 years have seen an explosion in our understanding of the large-scale distribution and motions of galaxies in the nearby universe. The field has moved from a largely qualitative, morphological description of the structures seen…
We live in momentous times. The science community is empowered with an arsenal of cosmic messengers to study the Universe in unprecedented detail. Gravitational waves, electromagnetic waves, neutrinos and cosmic rays cover a wide range of…
This is a written version of a series of lectures aimed at undergraduate students in astrophysics/particle theory/particle experiment. We summarize the important progress made in recent years towards understanding high energy astrophysical…
I present a non-technical and necessarily biased and incomplete overview of our present understanding of the physical universe and its constituents, emphasizing what we have learned from the explosive growth in cosmological and…
This manuscript addresses selected aspects of computing for the reconstruction and simulation of particle interactions in subnuclear physics. Based on personal experience with experiments at DESY and at CERN, I cover the evolution of…