e-Galform 1 year research masters

Abstract

Advancing internet technologies and increasing computer processing and data transfer rates have allowed computers separated by large distances to communicate with each other and transfer large amounts of data that were previously impractical. This has opened new opportunities allowing university departments to share research and information via web servers and web browsers. In this thesis, I describe the development of e-Galform, an internet based database application that seeks to allow scientists both within the University of Durham and from other universities across the globe to take advantage of Galform, a galaxy formation model developed by theoretical galaxy formation research staff at Durham. e-Galform features a web based interface allowing users to understand the capabilities of Galform without the necessity to understand the finer underlying technical and scientific complexities, whilst offering documentation that would support further understanding. A user can extract tailored predictions from a library of pre-existing Galform runs using the e-Galform web interface. A further primary feature is the production of Galform data in a new and more verbose data format, VOTable, which may be used in other database applications and is expected to become a standardised data format for use in astronomical software globally. The VOTable format is under development primarily by the United States Virtual Observatory (US-VO). Rather than run the Galform simulation directly, e-Galform extracts requested galaxy properties by running an intermediate binary program (samplegals.exe) on a pre-generated Galform dataset. e-Galform is also configurable and extendible via the use of ๒-built administrative facilities. The aim of the administrative facilities is to allow users to extend the facility to extract newly added galaxy properties as the underlying Galform model is extended, without the necessity of requiring new code.