The interaction of cosmic strings-a study of research and teaching graphics

The study of large-scale fluid or field-theoretical problems is greatly assisted by a graphical presentation to make computed results intelligible. The author discusses the minimal research tools and ideal state-of-the-art pedagogical tools for such visualization, using research on cosmic strings as an example. In carrying out this research it became necessary to view the result of 3-dimensional 64³ field simulation. The day-to-day research used NCAR graphics programme EZISOSURE to contour the fields. Single-color frames were captured on a multitasking computer (Amiga 1000) running a Tektronix terminal emulator plus a screensave program. Multiple contours of a single frame were saved and then combined in a multicolor image; these images can be reloaded at about a 3-per-second frame rate to provide a movie capability