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Computational Physics

The use of computers for purposes ranging from performing symbolic algebra in analytical calculations on a personal computer to massive simulations of complex phenomena on supercomputers has become an essential tool in theoretical physics research. The Department has links with the Department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology and is active in computional and visualisation research projects (including the WEDGE Project).

The combined computing resources of the Department, the Research School of Physical and Sciences and Engineering and the University provide Australia's best environment for pursuing research using computational physics approaches:

  • The Department has Macintosh personal computers plus AlphaStation and Digital Personal Workstations and provides some local IT support.
  • The School Computer Unit provides more IT support and a range of services such as workstations, scanning, and colour printing facilites.
  • The ANU Supercomputer Facility has a Fujitsu VPP-300 vector-parallel supercomputer, a 20-processor Silicon Graphics Power Challenge, a 12x533MHz Linux-Alpha cluster, and the VizLab.
  • The ANU is host to the new Australian Partnership in Advanced Computation.