Journal Article

Simulations of the formation, evolution and clustering of galaxies and quasars

Jenkins, Adrian, Colberg, Jörg, Thomas, Peter, White, Simon D. M., Gao, Liang, Springel, Volker, Navarro, Julio, Helly, John, Evrard, August, Croton, Darren, Cole, Shaun, Frenk, Carlos S., Thacker, Robert, Yoshida, Naoki, Couchman, Hugh, Peacock, John A., Pearce, Frazer

2005

Overview

The cold dark matter model has become the leading theoretical picture for the formation of structure in the Universe. This model, together with the theory of cosmic inflation, makes a clear prediction for the initial conditions for structure formation and predicts that structures grow hierarchically through gravitational instability. Testing this model requires that the precise measurements delivered by galaxy surveys can be compared to robust and equally precise theoretical calculations. Here we present a simulation of the growth of dark matter structure using 2,160 3 particles, following them from redshift z = 127 to the present in a cube-shaped region 2.230 billion lightyears on a side. In postprocessing, we also follow the formation and evolution of the galaxies and quasars. We show that baryon-induced features in the initial conditions of the Universe are reflected in distorted form in the low-redshift galaxy distribution, an effect that can be used to constrain the nature of dark energy with future generations of observational surveys of galaxies. Evolution of the universe Computer simulations have been used to blend the giant snapshot of cosmic history provided by modern galaxy surveys into a coherent picture displaying the underlying physical processes of galaxy formation and evolution. The growth of 20 million galaxies in a huge cosmological volume was modelled and it proved possible to identify the unusual formation sites and eventual fate of the first bright quasars. It was shown that large surveys are likely to include features in the galaxy distribution that directly reflect physics in the early Universe and may clarify the nature of the mysterious dark energy driving its current accelerated expansion. The cover shows the distribution of dark matter in a slice of thickness 60 million lightyears through the simulated universe.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Astronomy / Cosmology / Earth, ocean, space / Evolution / Exact sciences and technology / Humanities and Social Sciences / multidisciplinary / Quasars / Quasars. Active or peculiar galaxies, objects, and systems / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Stars & galaxies / Stellar systems. Galactic and extragalactic objects and systems. The universe / Theory