Los Alamos Mid School (72)/Interim Report

Interim Report
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_interim1112.php?team_id=72

Problem Definition:
This projects goal is to simulate how dark matter affects two galaxies colliding. This project is a built upon last year’s project. Last year, I did a computer simulation on the effects dark matter had on a galaxy’s rotational velocity. This simulation used Newton’s laws of motion and gravity to move mass points around a central point. Dark matter was implemented by using Newton’s shell theorem to add up the mass into a single point at the center of the galaxy (combined with the core). This year, dark matter particles will be implemented and I will use the NFW (Neferro-Frenk-White) dark matter distribution. Different interaction methods between the dark matter particles and the visible matter particles will be tested.

Problem Solution:
MPI and OpenCL will be used to run the program. Different program variables will be tested to find the optimal numbers. Some of these tests include dt (time step), number of stars and dark matter particles in each galaxy, drmin (force cutoff between two stars). Also, a tree algorithm will be implemented, which will be a faster way to compute the velocities of the stars but without doing full N-body.

Progress to Date:
Since the beginning of the challenge, work has begun in working on converting my previous code from last year into MPI. I also spent some time cleaning up my code and re-writing parts to make it cleaner. I have set up my home network for use with MPI. I have generalized my code to treat two galaxies and I’m now working on programming the interactions between the galaxies, optimizing my program in MPI, and implementing the tree algorithm method. Different galaxy collision parameters are going to be added such as: different velocities for the galaxies, and different distances and positions for the colliding galaxies.

Expected Result:
My simulation will model a currently colliding galaxy that has experimental and professional simulation data. The visible matter distributions and the dark matter halos that are predicted for the galaxy will be compared to my simulation result.

Introduction
Hi,

My name is Drew Einhorn. See the biography on my User Page.

Progress
I see significant progress from you proposal to your interim report. Although I noticed the you dropped mentioning the change from a 2D to a 3D model. Are you still planning on implementing a 3D model, or did you decide that was too much to accomplish this year?

Mentors
I am glad to see you have a mentor for this ambitious project.

NFW (Neferro-Frenk-White) dark matter distribution
I assume you mean Navarro-Frenk-White. You spelled Navarro a couple different ways in your proposal and interim report. Are there multiple ways of Anglicizing this name. Or are these just typos? In your final report tell us a bit more about NFW in your introduction. Is there a theoretical basis for the genesis of this distribution of dark matter? Or, is it just an empirical assumption, if the dark matter is distributed this way, simulation just work better?

Continuation of Last Year's Project
Delete this subsection if not need.


 * Teams will be expected to do a year's worth of new work, and should clearly indicate what was done last year, and what is new this year.
 * Be aware that you are raising the bar, and last year's project may be a tough act to follow.
 * I believe that you have planned sufficient new work and this will be a problem. If I am reading your proposal and interim correctly there are three components new to this years work.
 * 1) modularization of the code to ease maintenance and enhancement of your existing code
 * 2) changing a point dark matter mass at the center of the galaxy, to a NFW distribution of dark matter particles.
 * 3) new computational algorithms to speed up your simulation.
 * It would be ideal if your modularization efforts will allow you to compare four versions of your code.
 * 1) point mass dark matter, and last years algorithm
 * 2) point mass dark matter, with this year's improved algorithm, using last years results to validate this years work.
 * 3) NFW with minimal algorithm changes, demonstrating need for faster algorithms.
 * 4) NFM with new and improved algorithms.

Face to Face Evaluation
Your next milestone is a |face to face evaluation in February.

Rubrics
The judges will use these rubrics to evaluate your projects. Use them as checklists for what you need to communicate to the judges.


 * Expo Judges Rubric
 * Finalist Judges Rubric

Good Luck!!
You have an excellent project with lots of potential