Vector Array Processor Computer Equipment

摘要

To support the on-going research on Solar Oscillations and Convective Flows as Probes of Structure in the Subphotosphere, a vector array processor system was acquired to augment the existing DEC VAX-11/750 computer system. The fifty-fold average increase in computing speed offered by the array processor would make it feasible to invert solar oscillation data on a regular basis, and thereby permit us to use the five-minutes oscillations of the Sun to probe the turbulent convection zone below the surface of this star. The array processor would also permit us to carry out detailed numerical experiments with compressible convection in the presence of magnetic fields, for the speed and memory of the machine makes it a formidable tool for direct numerical simulations of two- and three-dimensional fluid dynamics. Such theoretical simulations are also needed to study the solar dynamo and its ability to build and transform magnetic fields, an issue central to solar-terrestrial variablility and predictions of solar activity. Attached as Appendix A is a cover article in Science Magazine that describes the importance of the work on the Seismology of the Sun that is beginning to emerge from the class of array processors.