How Do We Find Interesting Things in Very Large Simulations?

It’s a growing problem in computational astrophysics.  Hydrodynamic simulations (say of giant molecular clouds and star forming regions) are getting very large.  When we want to analyse them and find interesting features to compare to the physical Universe, simply searching them “by eye” is becoming an enormous task.

One simple solution to this is to farm out the problem to citizen scientists, essentially doing the “by eye” hundreds of thousands of times in a few days.  This technique is great if you can break up the simulation into easily viewable chunks for each citizen scientist to look at.  But what if you can’t do this, or you don’t have access to millions of enthusiastic people?

We must rely on algorithms to solve this problem.  Luckily cosmologists came across similar issues in N-Body simulations of dark matter.  These simulations have slightly less physics inside, and hence grew to large sizes much quicker, which was essential to modelling the growth of structure on cosmic scales.  They used something called tensor classification to analyse the mass distribution.

The distribution of dark matter in the Millennium Simulation.  Tensor classification helps cosmologists identify filamentary regions, and the knots where filaments collide to form dense clusters of galaxies

This is a technique which relies on computing a rank 2 tensor, a matrix, which contains information about how the simulation changes with position over all 3 dimensions.

For example, we can compute a tidal tensor, which is two derivatives of the gravitational potential.  This measures how the gravitational force changes as a function of position.  Manipulation of the tensor (finding its eigenvalues and eigenvectors) allows us to say what shapes and geometries the gravitational force is trying to build.  Is it making pancake-like sheets? Rope-like filaments? Or is it squeezing everything into a sphere? Or, is it doing none of this, creating a void?

This technique gives cosmologists useful information about the filamentary structure of dark matter on very large scales.  In a recent paper, I investigated how these N-Body methods (where the only force active is gravity) could be ported into hydrodynamic calculations (where pressure forces, radiation and perhaps magnetic fields also play a role).

As we work with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), which also simulates a fluid using particles, these methods are easy to apply, with the advantage that there are less free parameters in the calculation.

And it has some stunning uses.  Want to find the spiral arms in a self-gravitating disc? Presto:

Want to trace the blast wave of a supernova as it travels through interstellar gas? Sure:

It is also quite good at detecting filaments in molecular clouds, but the results aren’t quite as impressive – yet.  Most recently, we’ve been using the technique on simulations of entire galaxies, and we’re starting to see how material flows in and out of spiral arms, which helps to produce molecular clouds.

We’ve really only just begun using tensor classification for problems like this, and there are some great possibilities for analysing magnetic field structures in a similar way.

I have some very exciting plans for this technique, so stay tuned for further updates!

Searching for the Ruins of Alien Civilisations

The horrifying ruins of Hiroshima after the first atomic bomb.  If aliens make the same mistakes as us, could we see their terrible consequences on other planets?

This concept came out of a workshop we held at the UK Centre for Astrobiology in 2014, to attract young astrobiologists across lots of different disciplines to work on new projects. This project asked a very simple question: can dead civilisations be spotted at interstellar distances?

There is a train of thought that says the reason that we don’t see any signs of intelligent life is because civilisations have a short lifespan. If this theory is true, then there are ruins dotted all over the Galaxy. If we could figure out a way to detect these remains, not only could we prove that other civilisations have existed, but we could also say something about the typical civilisation lifespan.  This knowledge is extremely relevant for understanding the future of human civilisation!

We were motivated by recent advances in exoplanet detection methods, in particular spectroscopy techniques which are allowing us to probe exoplanet atmospheres for the first time.  As we get better at doing this, astrobiologists are hopeful that we will see signs of biological activity in exoplanet atmospheres, and perhaps even the first indications of technology (such as pollution).  If we can begin to see chemicals such as CFCs in exoplanet atmospheres, could we see the signs of a civilisation’s end?

The three of us got together and discussed the possible ways that humanity could end it all, and what traces that would leave for alien astronomers to search for.  We came up with several gruesome ends, and thought about how these would show themselves in exoplanet observations.

We started by thinking about nuclear war, a common source of dread for humans for decades.  If we detonated all our nuclear weapons, how would that change the Earth as viewed by alien astronomers? They would be extremely fortunate to witness the actual detonation events, which would bathe the Earth’s atmosphere in gamma rays and other high energy particles, but these would be pretty weak and difficult to spot unless our alien observers were actually in the Solar System.

The fallout would spray the atmosphere with large amounts of dust and radioactive particles, which would change the planet’s spectrum significantly at infrared wavelengths.  The ionisation of the upper atmosphere would also be quite obvious to astronomers with a particularly good ultraviolet telescope, i.e. one much better than we can currently build.

If a genetic experiment goes out of control and kills all life on Earth, then that might also be visible.  Decaying organisms emit very specific chemical compounds that can only be produced by biological sources, and a global extinction event would release huge amounts into the atmosphere.  However, our alien observers would have to be quick, as this would rapidly disappear from the Earth’s atmosphere over the course of a year or so.

Nanotechnology could be just as devastating.  A self-replicating nanobot could rapidly turn the world’s carbon (i.e. all living organisms) into sand in a couple of months.  That sand would enter the atmosphere as aerosol particles, and the world would be covered in deserts made of perfect sand grains.  There might be some very odd signatures in such a planet’s atmosphere, especially as the planet moves into secondary transit (where the host star comes between us and the planet).

Pollution of course is another possibility.  This could be pollution of the host star, where a civilisation uses their Sun as a hazardous waste trash can, which would show up in spectra, or pollution of the planet‘s atmosphere, or even pollution of the planet’s orbital environment, which humans have become quite good at doing.

Finally, for a bit of fun, we thought about what would happen if a planet was completely destroyed (such as the fate of Alderaan in Star Wars, when it became a target of the terrifying Death Star).  This might sound a bit frivolous, but when you hear SETI scientists talk about Dyson spheres and megastructures around stars, what they neglect to mention is that the raw material required would probably mean the destruction of several terrestrial planets!

So what did we conclude about detecting dead civilisations? For almost every scenario we came up with, we found that current technology was still unable to observe the signatures we were looking for.  It may not even be possible with the next generation of space telescopes and ground based surveys, unless the destruction is vast, and happens to occur within a few years of us looking at the system.

However, it certainly seems true that within the coming century, the trajectory of exoplanet detection science is good enough that we will be able to start looking for the remains of alien technology.  When that happens, we’ll know in much better detail what the fate of our own civilisation could be.

 

A Wee Announcement

You’ve no doubt noticed that things have been very quiet on the blog this year, and my activity even on other blogs like Research the Headlines has also been a bit less than usual.

There’s a very good reason, which I’ve been keeping under wraps for a while.  All of my writing time is being taken up by an exciting new project. In November 2017 I will be delivering the first draft of a textbook to Cambridge University Press, as part of its Astrobiology series.

The book will focus on Fermi’s Paradox, and how the different parts of academia integrate into the search for intelligent life. It’s been really great fun writing this book so far, and a tremendous challenge too. I’m about halfway through, and I’ll be going full tilt into 2017 to get the first draft ready to go in time.

I’ll do my best to keep telling you about my latest publications, but if I’m quiet, it’s because I’m working on something pretty huge. Hopefully this time next year I’ll be able to tweet a picture of the finished manuscript.

Until my next post – Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!