We specify the range to which perturbations penetrate a planetesimal system. Such perturbations can originate from massive planets or from encounters with other stars. The latter can have an origin in the star cluster in which the planetary system wa
s born, or from random encounters once the planetary system has escaped its parental cluster. The probability of a random encounter, either in a star cluster or in the Galactic field depends on the local stellar density, the velocity dispersion and the time spend in that environment. By adopting order of magnitude estimates we argue that the majority of planetary systems born in open clusters will have a {em Parking zone}, in which planetesimals are affected by encounters in their parental star cluster but remain unperturbed after the star has left the cluster. Objects found in this range of semi-major axis and eccentricity preserve the memory of the encounter that last affected their orbits, and they can therefore be used to reconstruct this encounter. Planetary systems born in a denser environment, such as in a globular cluster are unlikely to have a Parking zone. We further argue that some planetary systems may have a {em Frozen zone}, in which orbits are not affected either by the more inner massive planets or by external influences. Objects discovered in this zone will have preserved information about their formation in their orbital parameters.
We introduce a general-purpose framework for interconnecting scientific simulation programs using a homogeneous, unified software interface. Our framework is intrinsically parallel, and conveniently separates all components in memory. It performs uni
t conversion between different modules automatically and defines common data structures to communicate across different codes. We use the framework to simulate embedded star clusters. For this purpose we couple solvers for gravitational dynamics, stellar evolution and hydrodynamics to self consistently resolve the dynamical evolution simultaneousy with the internal nuclear evolution of the stars and the hydrodynamic response of the gas. We find, in contrast to earlier studies, that the survival of a young star cluster depends only weakly on the efficiency of star formation. The main reason for this weak dependency is the asymmetric expulsion of the embedding gas from the cluster.
Understanding the universe is hampered by the elusiveness of its most common constituent, cold dark matter. Almost impossible to observe, dark matter can be studied effectively by means of simulation and there is probably no other research field wher
e simulation has led to so much progress in the last decade. Cosmological N-body simulations are an essential tool for evolving density perturbations in the nonlinear regime. Simulating the formation of large-scale structures in the universe, however, is still a challenge due to the enormous dynamic range in spatial and temporal coordinates, and due to the enormous computer resources required. The dynamic range is generally dealt with by the hybridization of numerical techniques. We deal with the computational requirements by connecting two supercomputers via an optical network and make them operate as a single machine. This is challenging, if only for the fact that the supercomputers of our choice are separated by half the planet, as one is located in Amsterdam and the other is in Tokyo. The co-scheduling of the two computers and the gridification of the code enables us to achieve a 90% efficiency for this distributed intercontinental supercomputer.
We present MUSE, a software framework for combining existing computational tools for different astrophysical domains into a single multiphysics, multiscale application. MUSE facilitates the coupling of existing codes written in different languages by
providing inter-language tools and by specifying an interface between each module and the framework that represents a balance between generality and computational efficiency. This approach allows scientists to use combinations of codes to solve highly-coupled problems without the need to write new codes for other domains or significantly alter their existing codes. MUSE currently incorporates the domains of stellar dynamics, stellar evolution and stellar hydrodynamics for studying generalized stellar systems. We have now reached a Noahs Ark milestone, with (at least) two available numerical solvers for each domain. MUSE can treat multi-scale and multi-physics systems in which the time- and size-scales are well separated, like simulating the evolution of planetary systems, small stellar associations, dense stellar clusters, galaxies and galactic nuclei. In this paper we describe three examples calculated using MUSE: the merger of two galaxies, the merger of two evolving stars, and a hybrid N-body simulation. In addition, we demonstrate an implementation of MUSE on a distributed computer which may also include special-purpose hardware, such as GRAPEs or GPUs, to accelerate computations. The current MUSE code base is publicly available as open source at http://muse.li
