Visualizing the world's largest turbulence simulation

TL;DR

This paper presents the visualization of the largest interstellar turbulence simulations to date, revealing key astrophysical processes like star formation and magnetic field amplification with unprecedented detail.

Contribution

It introduces high-resolution visualization of large-scale HD and MHD turbulence simulations, showcasing complex astrophysical phenomena with advanced rendering techniques.

Findings

Revealed turbulence features at unprecedented resolution

Visualized magnetic field amplification mechanisms

Illustrated star formation seed structures

Abstract

In this exploratory submission we present the visualization of the largest interstellar turbulence simulations ever performed, unravelling key astrophysical processes concerning the formation of stars and the relative role of magnetic fields. The simulations, including pure hydrodynamical (HD) and magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) runs, up to a size of $10048^3$ grid elements, were produced on the supercomputers of the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre and visualized using the hybrid parallel (MPI+TBB) ray-tracing engine OSPRay associated with VisIt. Besides revealing features of turbulence with an unprecedented resolution, the visualizations brilliantly showcase the stretching-and-folding mechanisms through which astrophysical processes such as supernova explosions drive turbulence and amplify the magnetic field in the interstellar gas, and how the first structures, the seeds of newborn stars are shaped by this process.