A script that combines modules into a multi-physical simulator.
Binary star
Two stars in close orbit
Code
A computer program to solve or approximate the equations of state of
a physical domain. Codes are usually written in Fortran or C/C++.
For example ‘sse’ is a code to perform stellar evolution.
Data-model
A single representation model for data of different physical codes.
Evolve
Work out / develop the physical model equations. Usually, small steps
in time are taken, the new state of the system is calculated from the
previous state.
Grid
A collection of identifyable locations or regions (for example a box
of interstellar medium with a density, molecular composition). Every
value in the collection can be seen as belongin to a specific
location (x,y,z point).
Interstellar Cloud
Generic name for an accumulation of gas, plasma and dust. A denser
region of the insterstellar medium
Interstellar Medium
The matter between the stars in a galaxy.
Main sequence star
A star that derives its energy from the conversion of hydrogen into
helium in its core.
Metallicity
Proportion of star matter made up of chemical elements other than
hydrogen and helium.
Module
Interface to a code in AMUSE. Also, file containing python definitions.
These definitions can be imported into the main Python program
Molecular Cloud
A type of insterstellar cloud whose density and size permits the
formation of molecules,
Physical Domain
A region in space, time and objects (stars / gas clouds) that can be
described by a set of physical models. A physical domain is a
limited description of the physics of a stellar system. For example
in the gravity domain the gravitational forces are taken into
account but not the evolution of stars or the hydrodynamics of th
interstellar medium
Production Code
A code used for modelling stellar systems and described in published
articles.
Run
During a run the physical models are evolved to a wanted end state.
A run can end when a certain model time has passed. For example, one
can run a script until the age is 12 million years.
Set
A collection of identifyable objects (for example all stars in a
globular cluster). Every value in the set can be seen as belonging
to an object.
SPH, smoothed particle hydrodynamics
A computational method used for simulating fluid flows
Star Cluster
A group of stars. The mean distance between the stars in smaller
than the mean distance between stars in the galaxy disks. Two types
of star clusters exist: globular clusters, open clusters
Step
An identifiable stage in a run or evolve. A code can take multiple
steps during one evolve step. A step can be the integrator step,
force calculation step.
Toy Code
A code with limited accurancy but that is easy to use.
Unit test
Automatic test case for a part of the code. For example one can
define a unit tests that checks the result of one method given a
specified argument.
ZAMS, zero age main sequence
Start of the main sequence in the evolution of a star. Stable stage
after formation of the star from a collapsing gas cloud