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objectives.md
You will be working together and in collaboration with the teacher and the assistants to perform a small research project on computational astrophysics.
For this, you will use the Astronomical Multi-purpose Software Environment or AMUSE. AMUSE is a general simulation environment for astronomical calculations. It is a general tool that can be used for an enormously broad spectrum of calculations.
AMUSE focuses on simulations in which one or more of the following phenomena dominate: gravity, hydrodynamics, stellar evolution, and radiative transport. Some problems will prove to be harder than others.
We will assess the complexity of your selected problem, but more importantly, how the scientific research is conducted. Remember here that AMUSE is a tool, and it is not the objective. Still, bravado, in terms of the complexity of the objected research, is appreciated and awarded as such.
For this course, we will be working in triples.
Programming is known to be more effective when conducted in pairs. With triples, there is always a third person who cannot easily participate in the programming activity. Triples, therefore, reflect a team more than a pair does.
Three people also know more; they have more brains and hands to accomplish things. As a consequence, with triples, you can achieve more than when working alone or in pairs. The advantage is that we can complete a more rewarding project, with an actual scientific result if we are lucky.
It is the intention to perform a small actual research project in which we experience the entire process from the development of the the fundamental idea, assembling the team, making the plan, working it out, reporting on the results and being critically reviewed by your peers. In the end, you get the opportunity to present the results to your fellow students.
You start a project by defining and describing the main question. Then, you are going to design an experiment. Since this is a computer experiment, it requires a methodology (physics solver), input data, output, and analysis tools. Eventually, your project will have to comply with the modern SMART way of working, which will be judged as such.