Relation to Current and Previous Work

The research group on physics of compact objects (neutron stars and black holes) and stellar evolution at the University of Amsterdam has in the past twenty years made many contributions to our understanding of the physics, formation and evolution of compact objects in binary systems (X-ray binaries, binary pulsars). So far the evolutionary processes could not be studied beyond the evolution of binary systems. The natural next step is to extend this work to the evolution of star clusters, since according to present insight all stars (and binaries) originate in clusters. Globular clusters, moreover, contain a variety of X-ray binaries and binary pulsars that are significantly different from those in the general galactic disk, which differences are - undoubtedly - due to the (unknown) dynamical interactions that must occur in these clusters.The Computational Science group is for many years involved in particle simulations, be it grid based (Lattice Gas or Lattice Boltzmann methods) or N-body models (e.g. cristalization on a sphere, molecular dynamics). The research is directed, on the one hand towards applications of particle methods in e.g. physics or biology, and on the other hand on development of efficient parallel and distributed algorithms for particle methods. A major interest is in efficient, low complexity kernels for the N-body method. In the NWO-MPR priority program "the Portable Parallel Simulation of Crystal Nucleation and Growth" we are currently working on efficient parallel hierarchical methods for molecular dynamics. Another interest is in the development of homogeneous computing environments executing on heterogeneous architectures (e.g. the POLDER project; and the DAS computer). This so-called meta-computing paradigm is highly relevant for the proposed N-body lab.