Abstract
Stellar Astrophysics and in particular stellar evolutionary computations are extremely important to face a wealth of astrophysical problems, but they are also extremely demanding in terms of computing power and data storage. The Bag of Stellar Tracks and Isochrones (BaSTI) database is a theoretical astrophysical catalogue that collects fundamental data sets involving stars formation and evolution. To create this database it is necessary to run a large number of stellar evolutionary computations. The Grid technology seems to be a promising answer to data storage and processing needs of the BaSTI catalogue. In the framework of the EGEE Grid infrastructure, we managed to run a number of experiments aimed at designing and defining an application specific environment for the stellar simulation software and its interaction with the BaSTI database. Our successful implementation demonstrates that the “gridification” of stellar evolution code is not only possible but also even extremely convenient in terms of data processing speed and data sharing, and it can be a valuable instrument to support Astrophysical research.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alfieri, R., Cecchini R., Ciaschini V., dell Agnello L, Frohner A., et al.: From gridmap-file to VOMS: managing authorization in a Grid environment. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. 21(4), 549–558 (2005)
Alexander, D.R., Ferguson, J.W.: Low-temperature Rosseland opacities. ApJ 437, 879 (1994)
Ambrosi, E., Ghiselli, A., Taffoni, G.: GDSE: a new data source oriented computing element for Grid. In: Proceedings of IASTED Parallel and Distributed Computing and Networks Innsbruck 2006, pp. 517–070 (2006)
Angulo, C., et al.: A compilation of charged-particle induced thermonuclear reaction rates. (NACRE Coll.), Nucl. Phys., A 656, 3 (1999)
Antonioletti, M., Atkinson M.P., Baxter, R., Borley, A., Chue Hong, N.P., et al.: The design and implementation of Grid database services in OGSA-DAI. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience 17(2–4), 357–376 (2005)
Astronomical Data System. http://esoads.eso.org (2009)
Bertelli, G., Girardi, L., Marigo, P., Nasi, E.: Scaled solar tracks and isochrones in a large region of the Z–Y plane. I. From the ZAMS to the TP-AGB end for 0.15-2.5 M stars. A&A 484, 815 (2008)
Cordier, D., Pietrinferni, A., Cassisi, S., Salaris M.: A large stellar evolution database for population synthesis studies. III. Inclusion of the full asymptotic giant branch phase and web tools for stellar population analyses. AJ 133, 468 (2007)
Conroy, C., Gunn, J.E.: The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling III: model calibration, comparison, and evaluation. ApJ 712, 833 (2010)
Demarque, P., Woo, J.H., Kim, Y.C., Yi, S.K.: Y2 isochrones with an improved core overshoot treatment. ApJS 155, 667 (2004)
Dotter, A., Chaboyer, B., Jevremovic, D., et al.: The ACS survey of galactic globular clusters. II. Stellar evolution tracks, isochrones, luminosity functions, and synthetic horizontal-branch models. AJ 134, 376 (2007)
Enabling Grids for E-science in Europe. http://egee-intranet.web.cern.ch/ (2009)
Fiore, S., Negro, A., Vadacca, S., Cafaro, M., Mirto, M., Aloisio, G.: Advanced Grid database management with the GRelC data access service. In: Proceedings of ISPA07. LNCS, vol. 4742, pp. 683–694 (2007)
Foster, I., Kesselman, C., Tuecke, S.: The anatomy of the Grid. Int. J. High Perform. Comput. Appl 15(3), 200–222 (2001)
Foster, I., Kesselman, C., Tsudik, G., Tuecke, S.: A security architecture for computational Grids. In: Proceedings of ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, pp. 83–92 (1998)
Frey, J., Tannenbaum, T., Livny, M., Foster, I. , Tuecke, S.: Condor-G: a computation management agent for multi-institutional Grids. Cluster Comput. 5(3), 237–246 (2002)
Gallart, C., Zoccali, M., Aparicio, A.: The adequacy of stellar evolution models for the interpretation of the color-magnitude diagrams of resolved stellar populations. ARA&A 43, 387 (2005)
Haft, M., Raffelt, G., Weiss, A.: Standard and nonstandard plasma neutrino emission revisited. ApJ 425, 222 (1994)
Hanisch, R.J., Quinn, P.J.: International Virtual Observatory Alliance. http://www.ivoa.net/pub/info/ (2003)
Iglesias, C.A., Rogers, F.J.: Updated opal opacities. ApJ 464, 943 (1996)
Irwin, A.W.: Free equation of state. http://freeeos.sourceforge.net (2009)
Irwin, A.W.: Refined diatomic partition functions. I: Calculational methods and H2 and CO results. A&A 182, 348 (1987)
Kacsuk P., Sipos G.: Multi-Grid, multi-user workflows in the P-GRADE Grid portal. J. Grid Computing 3(3–4), 221–238 (2005)
Karasavvas, K., Antonioletti, M., Atkinson, M., Hong, N.C., Sugden T., et al.: Introduction to OGSA-DAI services. Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 3458(2–4), 1–12 (2005)
Koblitz, B., Santos, N., Pose, V.: The AMGA metadata services. JGC 6(1), 61–76 (2007)
Laure, E., Fisher, S.M. , Frohner, A., et al.: Programming the Grid with gLite. CMST 12(1), 33–45 (2006)
Manzato, P., Smareglia, R., Marseglia, L., Manna, V., Taffoni, G., Gasparo, F., Pasian, F., Gheller, C., Becciani, U.: An archive of cosmological simulations and the ITVO multi-level database. In: Proceedings EFMCSC Series World Scientific, pp. 300–306 (2007)
Manzato, P., Pietrinferni, A., Gasparo, F., Taffoni, G., Cordier, D.: BaSTI, a bridge between Grid and virtual observatory part 1: BaSTI inside the VO. ASPC 120, 922 (2008)
Manzato, P., Molinaro, M., Gasparo, F., Pasian, F., Pietrinferni, A., Cassisi, S., Gheller, C., Ameglio, S., Murante, G., Borgani, S.: ITVO and BaSTI: databases and services for cosmological and stellar models. MmSAI 80(2), 408 (2009)
Marin-Franch, A., Aparicio, A.: Surface-brightness fluctuations in stellar populations. IAC-star models for the optical and near-IR wavelengths. A&A 450, 979 (2006)
Moscicki, J.T.: DIANE—distributed analysis environment for Grid-enabled simulation and analysis of physics data. In: Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, vol. 3, pp. 1617–1620. IEEE (2003)
Potekhin, A.Y.: Electron conduction in magnetized neutron star envelopes. A&A 351, 787 (1999)
Pietrinferni, A., Cassisi, S., Salaris, M., Castelli, F.: A large stellar evolution database for population synthesis studies. I. Scaled solar models and isochrones. ApJ 612, 168 (2004)
Pietrinferni, A., Cassisi, S., Salaris, M., Castelli, F.: A large stellar evolution database for population synthesis studies. II. Stellar models and isochrones for an α-enhanced metal distribution. ApJ 642, 797 (2006)
Pasian, F., Taffoni, G., Vuerli, C.: Interconnecting the Virtual Observatory with computational Grid infrastructures. In: Proceedings of IAU XXVI General Assembly, 2006, p. 601. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2007)
Percival, S., Salaris, M., Cassisi, S., Pietrinferni, A.: A large stellar evolution database for population synthesis studies. IV. Integrated properties and spectra. ApJ 690, 427 (2009)
Taffoni, G., Ambrosi, E., Vuerli, C., Pasian F.: The Grid data source engine batch query system. In: Distributed and Parallel Systems, pp. 189–194 (2008)
Taffoni, G., Fiore, S., Donvito, G., Jain A., et al.: How to access databases from EGEE-II Grid environment: a comparison of tools and middleware. In: Gavela, R., Marechal, B., Barbera, R., et al. (eds.) Proceedings of the Third Conference of the EELA Project, pp. 34–54. CIEMAT (2007)
Taffoni, G., Vuerli, C., Pasian, F.: Making the Grid and the virtual observatory interoperable. MSAIS 13, 147 (2009)
The LCG project. http://cern.ch/lcg (2009)
PGRADE: Portal Grid run-time and application development environment. http://www.p-grade.hu/ (2009)
Valentijn, E., et al.: Astro-WISE: chaining to the universe, In: Shaw, R.A., Hill, F. Bell, D.J. (eds.) Proc. of ADASS XVI, ASP Conf. Ser., vol. 376, p. 491 (2007)
VandenBerg, D.A., Bergbusch, P.A., Dowler, P.D.: The Victoria-Regina stellar models: evolutionary tracks and isochrones for a wide range in mass and metallicity that allow for empirically constrained amounts of convective core overshooting. ApJS 162, 375 (2006)
van Engelen, R.A.: Pushing the SOAP envelope with web services for scientific computing. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Web Services (ICWS), pp. 346–354 (2003)
The virtual data toolkit. http://www.cs.wisc.edu/vdt/ (2009)
Yi, S.K., Demarque, P., Kim, Y.C., et al.: Toward better age estimates for stellar populations: the Y2 isochrones for solar mixture. ApJS 136, 417 (2001)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Taffoni, G., Cassisi, S., Manzato, P. et al. Grid and Databases: BaSTI as a Practical Integration Example. J Grid Computing 8, 223–240 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10723-010-9154-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10723-010-9154-z