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Title: Trident: A Universal Tool for Generating Synthetic Absorption Spectra from Astrophysical Simulations

Abstract

Hydrodynamical simulations are increasingly able to accurately model physical systems on stellar, galactic, and cosmological scales; however, the utility of these simulations is often limited by our ability to directly compare them with the data sets produced by observers: spectra, photometry, etc. To address this problem, we have created trident, a Python-based open-source tool for post-processing hydrodynamical simulations to produce synthetic absorption spectra and related data. trident can (i) create absorption-line spectra for any trajectory through a simulated data set mimicking both background quasar and down-the-barrel configurations; (ii) reproduce the spectral characteristics of common instruments like the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph; (iii) operate across the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared using customizable absorption-line lists; (iv) trace simulated physical structures directly to spectral features; (v) approximate the presence of ion species absent from the simulation outputs; (vi) generate column density maps for any ion; and (vii) provide support for all major astrophysical hydrodynamical codes. trident was originally developed to aid in the interpretation of observations of the circumgalactic medium and intergalactic medium, but it remains a general tool applicable in other contexts.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. TAPIR, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
  2. San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego, CA 92121 (United States)
  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22679834
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 847; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ABSORPTION; ABSORPTION SPECTRA; APPROXIMATIONS; ASTROPHYSICS; COSMOLOGY; DATA ANALYSIS; DENSITY; IONS; PHOTOMETRY; QUASARS; RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER; SIMULATION; ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION

Citation Formats

Hummels, Cameron B., Smith, Britton D., and Silvia, Devin W. Trident: A Universal Tool for Generating Synthetic Absorption Spectra from Astrophysical Simulations. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/AA7E2D.
Hummels, Cameron B., Smith, Britton D., & Silvia, Devin W. Trident: A Universal Tool for Generating Synthetic Absorption Spectra from Astrophysical Simulations. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/AA7E2D
Hummels, Cameron B., Smith, Britton D., and Silvia, Devin W. 2017. "Trident: A Universal Tool for Generating Synthetic Absorption Spectra from Astrophysical Simulations". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/AA7E2D.
@article{osti_22679834,
title = {Trident: A Universal Tool for Generating Synthetic Absorption Spectra from Astrophysical Simulations},
author = {Hummels, Cameron B. and Smith, Britton D. and Silvia, Devin W.},
abstractNote = {Hydrodynamical simulations are increasingly able to accurately model physical systems on stellar, galactic, and cosmological scales; however, the utility of these simulations is often limited by our ability to directly compare them with the data sets produced by observers: spectra, photometry, etc. To address this problem, we have created trident, a Python-based open-source tool for post-processing hydrodynamical simulations to produce synthetic absorption spectra and related data. trident can (i) create absorption-line spectra for any trajectory through a simulated data set mimicking both background quasar and down-the-barrel configurations; (ii) reproduce the spectral characteristics of common instruments like the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph; (iii) operate across the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared using customizable absorption-line lists; (iv) trace simulated physical structures directly to spectral features; (v) approximate the presence of ion species absent from the simulation outputs; (vi) generate column density maps for any ion; and (vii) provide support for all major astrophysical hydrodynamical codes. trident was originally developed to aid in the interpretation of observations of the circumgalactic medium and intergalactic medium, but it remains a general tool applicable in other contexts.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/AA7E2D},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22679834}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 847,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Wed Sep 20 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Works referencing / citing this record:

Imprints of the first billion years: Lyman limit systems at z ∼ 5
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The abundance, distribution, and physical nature of highly ionized oxygen O vi, O vii, and O viii in IllustrisTNG
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Fast radio burst dispersion measures and rotation measures and the origin of intergalactic magnetic fields
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The ACCELERATION programme: I. Cosmology with the redshift drift
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The Role of Cosmic-ray Transport in Shaping the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium
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The Impact of Enhanced Halo Resolution on the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium
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The COS Absorption Survey of Baryon Harbors (CASBaH): Warm–Hot Circumgalactic Gas Reservoirs Traced by Ne viii Absorption
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Emission from the circumgalactic medium: from cosmological zoom-in simulations to multiwavelength observables
journal, August 2019


Cooling flow solutions for the circumgalactic medium
text, January 2019


Challenges and Techniques for Simulating Line Emission
journal, September 2018