|
|
|
A Parallel Genetic-Algorithm-based approach to White Dwarf Pulsation Models
|
|
|
| White dwarf asteroseismology offers the opportunity to probe the
structure and composition of stellar objects governed by relatively
simple principles. The observational requirements of asteroseismology
have been addressed by the development of the Whole Earth Telescope
(WET) in conjunction with the HST, but the analytical procedures need
to be refined before this technique can yield the complete physical
insight that the data can provide. We propose to develop an
optimization method utilizing a genetic algorithm (GA) for fitting
white dwarf pulsation models to the observations. We will develop
software to use this global optimization approach in two distinct
ways: (1) to investigate the uniqueness and objectivity of the
solutions by combining existing models with a GA-based fitting
routine, and (2) to investigate the completeness and adequacy of our
understanding of the principles governing white dwarf interiors by
parameterizing the constitutive physics and using a GA to find the
family of solutions that produce observationally indistinguishable
behavior. We have configured a specialized computational instrument to
develop this software---a parallel metacomputer consisting of a
network of 64 minimal PCs running Linux. The structure of a GA is very
conducive to parallelization, so this metacomputer will allow us to
develop and run the code on a practical timescale. |
Bibliography
| | 12C(alpha, gamma)16O from WD Asteroseismology
Metcalfe; Salaris; Winget; ApJ, (2002) 573 pp. 803
| |
|
|
