GSOC 2014 ideas for TARDIS

A bit of background information

A supernova marks the brilliant death throes of a star, during which it outshines its entire galaxy. It not only marks death, though: supernova ejecta change the evolution of the universe and enable the formation of planets and life as we know it. From the iron in your blood to the gold in your jewellery, supernovae return heavy elements assembled from the primordial hydrogen and helium left after the big bang.

There are still many mysteries surrounding supernovae (e.g. their precise origins, inner workings, ...). One way to study these objects in more detail is to split the light coming from these objects into its components (like using a prism) and analysing the resulting data (which is called a spectrum).

A major part of the analysis is to compare with computer simulations of how we think these objects work. TARDIS is a code that can simulate spectra from inputs like supernova brightness, amount of Oxygen, amount of Silicon, etc. The idea is that if we put in the parameters that actually describe the supernovae the generated spectrum will closely match the observed spectrum.

The TARDIS project

TARDIS aims to be an easy to use piece of software for research and training purposes. Unlike many other scientific codes, we have purposefully made it open-source. This enables scientists to review the work (potentially helping to fix errors) and to use the code to analyze their observations.

TARDIS is also built in a modular fashion to enable other researchers

TARDIS is participating in the Google Summer of Code 2014 under the Python organization. See here for information about participating as part of the Python organization, in particular the guidelines for prospective students. In particular, please note the following requirements:

All prospective students are required to have completed the following to pass final screening:

• Demonstrate to your prospective mentor(s) that you are able to complete the project you've proposed
• Blog for their GSoC project. Free blogs are available at http://www.blogger.com/
• Contribute at least one patch to the project(s) you're applying to work with

Students are expected to work (remotely) on the project full time this summer, and receive a $5,000 stipend! More information is available via the Python organization page on expectations from students, as well as the application process.

If you are interested in participating, please join our mailing list, tardis-sn-user, and let us know of your interest, so that we can pair you up with a prospective mentor to help you prepare your application.

Below are ideas of projects for students. For any questions about the projects, please ask on our mailing list. If you have ideas of other projects, please also feel free to suggest these (but well in advance, so we have time to discuss possible plans)!