A distributed atomic physics database and modeling system for plasma spectroscopy

We are undertaking to develop a set of computational capabilities which will facilitate the access, manipulation, and understanding of atomic data in calculations of x-ray spectral modeling. In this present limited description we will emphasize the objectives for this work, the design philosophy, and aspects of the atomic database, as a more complete description of this work is available. The project is referred to as the Plasma Spectroscopy Initiative; the computing environment is called PSI, or the ``PSI shell`` since the primary interface resembles a UNIX shell window. The working group consists of researchers in the fields of x-ray plasma spectroscopy, atomic physics, plasma diagnostics, line shape theory, astrophysics, and computer science. To date, our focus has been to develop the software foundations, including the atomic physics database, and to apply the existing capabilities to a range of working problems. These problems have been chosen in part to exercise the overall design and implementation of the shell. For successful implementation the final design must have great flexibility since our goal is not simply to satisfy our interests but to vide a tool of general use to the community.