Visualization Projector Makes an Impact

(The following article appeared in the Winter 2009 edition of SHARC BYTES, the newsletter of the SHARCNET consortium.)

A stereoscopic projection system installed in the SHARCNET Boardroom at Western is enabling researchers to peer into the complex three-dimensional fluid flow that gives birth to stars.

Shantanu Basu, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, his graduate students Wolf Dapp, Alexander DeSouza, and Nicole Wityk, and SHARCNET staff member Jennifer Berberich, are modeling the fragmentation of interstellar gas clouds to form distinct regions ("cores") that collapse due to the strength of gravity and form stars.

 *
Colors: gas density in a star-forming interstellar cloud. Red is highest density. Magnetic fields are represented by grey-black lines.

"Our computer simulations reveal the three-dimensional structure of gas and magnetic field in the regions where stars form. Although the actual process of star formation takes millions of years, we can calculate the early stages on a computer and watch animations in real time," says Prof. Basu.

For years, an important paradigm in the field has been that magnetic forces regulate the core formation process, thereby limiting the overall percentage of mass that goes into stars. Observations of stars and gas implies that this number is less than about five percent. Another idea is that stresses due to turbulence are responsible for limiting the influence of gravity. Each idea leads to a distinct three-dimensional structure of the magnetic field, the calculations demonstrate.

By visualizing the three-dimensional structure of the magnetic field, and viewing it from various locations and orientations, the group can better interpret observations of star-forming regions. Observed maps of magnetic field structure, measured through polarized emission from interstellar dust, always represents a view from a specific but unknown direction. Models with either strong or weak magnetic field, and strong or weak turbulence, all yield different and observationally distinguishable outcomes.

 *
Graduate student, Nicole Wityk, works with a stereoscopic image of star formation.

Basu adds, "We are laying the groundwork for resolving the big questions about which processes regulate star formation, through a combination of computation, visualization, and comparison with current and upcoming observations."

The stereoscopic projection system was jointly funded by SHARCNET and an Academic Development Fund grant from Western.