Illustration of star cut-away

Welcome to the TeraGrid Asteroseismic Modeling Portal

The Asteroseismic Modeling Portal (AMP) provides a web-based interface for astronomers to use the Aarhus Stellar Evolution Code (ASTEC) coupled with a parallel genetic algorithm (MPIKAIA) to derive the properties of Sun-like stars from observations of their pulsation frequencies. For example, check out the data from our favorite star, the sun.

What can I do with AMP?

Everyone can browse the catalog of runs to find data about stars that have been modeled with AMP. You can find basic data about stars, such as their mass and metallicity, and download a Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram that shows the star's temperature and luminosity during its lifetime.

Scientists can use AMP to do two things:

  • Observable parameter optimization. In an optimization run, a scientist specifies observable properties, such as pulsation frequencies, and a genetic algorithm is used to identify the stellar model that best fits the observed data. An optimization run makes extensive usage of TeraGrid computational resources and consumes about 20,000 CPU hours.
  • Direct ASTEC model evaluation. In a direct model run, a scientist specifies a star's parameters, and the specific star is modeled using ASTEC. Data about the hypothetical star, including Echelle and HR diagrams, are produced for inspection. A direct model evaluation takes about 15 minutes to run.

For more information about AMP, please see About AMP and the AMP User Guide.

AMP Supports Kepler Science

The Kepler satellite promises to revolutionize the quality and quantity of asteroseismic data available for solar-type stars. The mission will use asteroseismology to determine precise absolute sizes of the potentially habitable Earth-like planets that are discovered. A uniform analysis of the asteroseismic data will help minimize systematic errors between the parameter values obtained for different stars, and such an analysis will be facilitated by this TeraGrid-based community modeling tool.

AMP is a TeraGrid Science Gateway

The genetic algorithm that performs the asteroseismology science requires immense amounts of computational time to run. AMP uses TeraGrid computational resources to perform its simulations, including systems located at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Texas Advanced Computing Center.