Department of Computer Science

In Einsteins footsteps

Tuesday 5 June 2018

Prof. Hinkenjann is coordinating a sub-project of the American PIRE-project run by the National Science Foundation: " Black Hole Astrophysics in the Era of Distributed Resources and Expertise".

20180605_blackhole-teasercut.jpg (DE)

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is an international collaboration aiming to capture the first image of a black hole -specifically the black hole in the centre of our galaxy. This will put Einstein's theory of general relativity to the test in extreme conditions. 

The PIRE-project explores the use of cutting edge information technology to support international teams working locally on all five continents. Researchers will develop suitable new technologies, algorithms and infrastructures. 

Prof. Hinkenjann and Matthew Turk from Stanford University are coordinating a sub-project called "thrust #3" which tackles the visualization of big and distributed data that should be accessible for all researchers of a global team. The data is first saved locally and then shipped to two data correlation centres. One of these centres is run by H-BRS in cooperation with the Max-Planck Institute for radio Astronomy in Bonn whereas the other one is located at the MIT in Boston. The sub-project deals with the challenge of analyzing huge amounts of raw data, develop suitable algorithms and build an infrastructure which allows fast data transfer between project partners on all five continents. 

 For more information on EHT, please go to: https://eventhorizontelescope.org/

 For more information on the PIRE-Project, please visit: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1743747

For an overview of the project partners, please see http://bhpire.uawebhost.arizona.edu/about/pire/