chap68

A 3-D adaptive mesh-refinement (AMR) simulation of the formation of a binary from an initially rotating cloud. The stars, each with a surronding disk, the circumbinary disk and inflowing materials are visible. Simulations like these are necessary to understand and test competing theories of star formation. Klein et al., 1998. AMR codes will be a crucial part of these efforts. Simulation run on a Cray C90, Pittsburgh.

The deepest challenge in physics is to elucidate the linkbetween quantum mechanics and gravity and to combine these into a single concept. Currently popular ideas suggest that the fundamental particles of matter â“ best likened to vibrating strings â“ could be the means by which this synthesis is realized. String theory is highly "non-linear" so that here too, numerical simulation may ultimately play a decisive part in testing the viability of this next revolution in physics. Thus, the computational aspects of astronomy and astrophysics will play an ever growing and more important part in our quest.