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Poly-Web: A web-based polytrope calculator Nov 18 2009, 09:36
To help the students in my course develop better insights into simple stellar models, I've created a web-based code that constructs polytropes by solving the Lane-Emden equation for arbitrary polytropic index n. This Poly-Web tool provides a useful companion to EZ-Web, my web-based stellar evolution code.
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Mad Star now has caching Oct 13 2009, 12:43
To address concerns I've had over the time taken to load pages on mad star (esp. the EZ-Web page, which has large tables), I've spent the morning implementing caching in the parsing engine. It all seems to work OK, and the speed-up was well worth the effort. But I really should do some science sometime...
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I'm hiring a new Post-Doc Oct 9 2009, 15:51
Over the coming year I'll be hiring a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, to form the core of the team for my NSF project modeling wave transport of angular momentum. Full details will be appearing in the November 2009 issue of the AAS Job Register, but here is the general description:
The Department of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison is advertising a postdoctoral position in stellar astrophysics. The successful applicant will work with Prof. Richard Townsend in developing models for the impact of pulsational instabilities on the evolution of massive, luminous stars. This project will make extensive use of high-performance computer facilities available to the Department, and prior experience with programming in parallel environments will be looked upon favorably. The position is initially for two years with an optional third year. The nominal starting date is no later than September 1 2010.
Applicants must have a recent Ph.D. in astronomy or a related field. Applications should include a summary of research interests, a bibliography, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of recommendation sent to the address below. Applications received by December 31 2009 will be ensured full consideration. Application materials should be sent to Prof. Richard Townsend, Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 4402 Sterling Hall, 475 N Charter St., Madison, WI 53706, USA. E-mail inquiries should be directed to townsend AT astro.wisc.edu.
Interested applicants needn't wait until the advert appears in the Job Register; I'm accepting applications right now.
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New paper: 'Discovery of a magnetic field in the O9 sub-giant star HD 57682 by the MiMeS Collaboration' Oct 1 2009, 23:27
This letter, just been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the RAS, reports the discovery of a ~1.6 kG dipole magnetic field in HD 57682. The detection was made using the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The observations comprise part of MiMeS (Magnetism in Massive Stars) project that I'm involved in, one of the Large Programs currently being undertaken on the CFHT.
Personally, I can take very little credit for the paper — it's thanks to Jason Grunhut and the other observers that we obtained this great detection. But of course, I'm excited by the prospects for furthering our theoretical understanding of magnetism in massive stars; we now know of fields in four O-type stars, indicating that they are not so rare as once believed.
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