The work was split into five work packages: (WP1) Management, (WP2) Code development, (WP3) Idealized turbulence, (WP4) Isolated galaxy clusters, and (WP5) Dissemination & communication.
WP1 covered the broader management and the researcher was involved in all aspects of the project including the financial part. In line with obtaining management skills and towards the objective of becoming a future research group leader, the researcher also mentored students on thesis projects, took part in several multi-day workshops on “Navigating Successfully in Academia” and served as a reviewer for several journals and computing grants. Finally, the researcher successfully obtained multiple, highly competitive computing grants as (Co-)PI, for example, through the DOE INCITE program or the EuroHPC Extreme Scale Access program.
In WP2 the researcher developed the open source AthenaPK and Parthenon community codes in a newly established international collaboration. Parthenon is a is a performance portable mesh refinement framework that serves as basis for multiple application codes including AthenaPK. The latter is the MHD code newly developed as part of the action. A key aspect of the codes is their performance portability, i.e. they can run on any architecture including GPU-based, exascale supercomputers. This code development resulted in three technical publications (the main one being the Parthenon code paper that was lead by the researcher).
In WP3 the researcher conducted a suite of driven, magnetized turbulence simulations focusing on the impact of dynamical range with respect to scale dependent energy transfers. The key result, i.e. that energy transfers are neither constant with respect to their scale nor with respect to the mediator (e.g. the turbulent cascade or magnetic tension), is published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Moreover, the researcher studied the impact of cloud-in-wind simulation that included anisotropic thermal conduction. These simulations are representative of, for example, galaxies falling through the hot intracluster medium. The key result, i.e. anisotropic thermal conduction shields the galaxy by preferentially channeling the hot wind around it, is published in the Astrophysical Journal.
In WP4 the researcher developed a new setup to study isolated galaxy clusters in an international collaboration. This setup includes significantly more physics such as a static gravitational potential, cooling, or feedback from an active galactic nucleus (AGN) jet. The first simulations have been concluded as part of an INCITE computing grant and are currently being analyzed. Multiple publications are in preparation and expected to be submitted in 2024. The attached image illustrates one three dimensional rendering of the center of a galaxy cluster and the associated mesh structure in the simulation.
For dissemination of the results under WP5, the researcher presented the results 14 times at conferences and workshops, co-organized one workshop, to-date (co-)authored 7 publications to date, and wrote a research blog. Moreover, the researcher built an interactive supercomputer model for outreach and training activities, which was used on multiple occasions including the Observatory’s Open Day and the annual Girls Day, and more generally supported outreach activities such as “Ask an astronomer” at the “Sternstunden Festival” and was a guide for public tours at the Hamburg Observatory on multiple occasions.
