{"540481":{"#nid":"540481","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Computational Astrophysics Goes to Capitol Hill","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch5 dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u2019 John Wise Roots for More Supercomputing\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIt isn\u2019t every day that a briefing on Capitol Hill would have been appropriately accompanied by popcorn. May 25, 2016, was one of those rare days, with the screening of \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/topdocumentaryfilms.com\/solar-superstorms\/\u0022\u003ESolar Superstorms\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d a documentary commissioned by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Narrated by popular British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, the documentary served as the entr\u00e9e to space weather, why it should be monitored, and what is needed to study it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EHelping explain the matter to a standing-room-only crowd of about 100 Congressional staffers and interns was an NSF-convened panel of the science advisers of the documentary. Among them was John H. Wise, an associate professor in the School of Physics. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWise is a computational astrophysicist, using supercomputers to simulate the birth of stars and galaxies and to visualize those simulations. A segment of \u201cSolar Superstorms\u201d is based on the simulations of his research at Georgia Tech College of Sciences. The same tools are needed to study, track, and forecast space weather, especially that occurring on the sun. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ESolar outbursts are common; the high-energy particles they send to Earth cause the bright dancing lights we know as auroras. At times, these outbursts can be so powerful that they can disrupt the electricity grid or damage satellites. \u201cThe largest solar superstorm that affected Earth after the advent of electricity occurred in the 1850s, when we had only telegraphs,\u201d Wise notes. \u201cImagine what can happen now with the modern communications we have.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe potential cost of solar superstorms can run to trillions of dollars in lost productivity, according to Senator Gary C. Peters (D-Michigan). Last month, he introduced a bill \u2013 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/114th-congress\/senate-bill\/2817\u0022\u003ES.2817, Space Weather and Forecasting Act\u003C\/a\u003E \u2013 to ensure that the U.S. has the tools and resources to predict space weather and avoid economic catastrophe in case of severe events.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EA major tool in this endeavor is computational power, Wise says. Using the example of his research at Georgia Tech, he posits that in these days of big data, computation has become the third leg of science, alongside theory and experiment. \u0026nbsp;\u201cComputation is central to science now,\u201d Wise says. \u201cThe US has been a leader globally in providing supercomputers for scientists to use and to train computational scientists.\u201d Continued support for the funding of supercomputers for basic research is essential, he adds. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn his research Wise uses supercomputers to run simulations of galaxy formation, beginning from the first generation of stars forming when the universe was only 100 million years old. Running these simulations requires tremendous computational power. At Georgia Tech, Wise has access to a supercomputer with a computing power equivalent to 30,000 home computers running at the same time. A computation that would take 100 days on a single computer would take less than 5 minutes using the entire Georgia Tech facility. But even that is good only for software development, Wise says. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ETo do simulations and visualizations, Wise goes to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ncsa.illinois.edu\/enabling\/bluewaters\u0022\u003EBlue Waters\u003C\/a\u003E, NSF\u2019s premiere supercomputer, which is housed in the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Blue Waters is equivalent to 400,000 home computers. Wise has NSF grants that enable him to access this facility. \u201cWe are doing computations at scale,\u201d Wise says, adding that his research can produce up to 1,000 terabytes of data in a single simulation. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EYummymath.com estimates that the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.yummymath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MegasGigasTeras.pdf\u0022\u003EComplete Works of Shakespeare, consisting of 1,300 pages of print, would require 10 megabytes of storage\u003C\/a\u003E. Wise\u2019s output from one simulation would be equivalent to 100 million volumes of the Shakespeare tome. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EBecause no direct observation of the first galaxies being born exists, \u201cwe are in a theorists\u2019 playground,\u201d Wise says. \u201cOur work is planning for the future,\u201d he explains, when \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.jwst.nasa.gov\/\u0022\u003Ethe James Webb Space Telescope\u003C\/a\u003E is launched in October 2018. This successor to the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/hubble\/story\/index.html\u0022\u003EHubble Space Telescope\u003C\/a\u003E ought to be able to look deeper into space and see galaxies even farther away and younger than have been observed so far. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make predictions for the new space telescope,\u201d says Wise. When that telescope is working, Wise will be able to compare his team\u2019s simulations to observation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EFor now, the number crunching continues at a grand scale, both to observe space weather events that could affect Earth now and to predict events that occurred long ago and far away. Scientists\u2019 continued access to computational power, Wise says, is crucial.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"School of Physics\u2019 John Wise Roots for More Supercomputing"}],"uid":"32503","created_gmt":"2016-05-26 13:13:58","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:49","author":"Scotty Smith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-05-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-05-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"540491":{"id":"540491","type":"image","title":"John H. Wise speaking at a Capitol Hill briefing after screening of  \u0022Solar Superstorms,\u0022 a documentary funded by NSF. Wise urged support for more supercomputing.","body":null,"created":"1464706800","gmt_created":"2016-05-31 15:00:00","changed":"1475895329","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:29","alt":"John H. Wise speaking at a Capitol Hill briefing after screening of  \u0022Solar Superstorms,\u0022 a documentary funded by NSF. Wise urged support for more supercomputing.","file":{"fid":"89593","name":"20160525.john_.wise_.med-res.2.img_3060.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/20160525.john_.wise_.med-res.2.img_3060.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/20160525.john_.wise_.med-res.2.img_3060.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":257513,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/20160525.john_.wise_.med-res.2.img_3060.jpg?itok=vz4VnO1A"}}},"media_ids":["540491"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"91741","name":"Center for Relativistic Astrophysics"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"172079","name":"Computational Astrophysics"},{"id":"172077","name":"John H. Wise"},{"id":"362","name":"National Science Foundation"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"172078","name":"Solar Superstorms"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDirector of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}