Blog #19: Simulating Our Universe

In this article, a new way of simulating the universe, called Illustris, is described. In the past, many simulations have had problems with resolution--it's been difficult to be detailed on the scale of galactic clusters while still maintaining detail on the scale of single stars. However, by adjusting the resolution of the simulation based on the density of matter in each particular location, Illustris brings high resolution where it's needed without having high resolution where it would be useless. By doing this, the simulation has been able to model over 40,000 galaxies--and apparently pretty accurately!

From the original paper.

Aside from the issues with resolution, a lot of other simulations have had disagreements with theory-based predictions (in part because of the resolution problem). Illustris, while not perfect, has been more able to produce results that are consistent with theory in several problem areas. For example, by increasing the resolution and including more detailed and accurate models, Illustris produced more accurate simulations of satellite galaxies in galactic clusters, the distribution of neutral hydrogen, and the distribution of metallicity throughout the simulated universe.

The simulations and data from Illustris so far have matched observations really well. What's more, the Illustris team has striven to make the simulation and its data accessible to everyone, so it should be really exciting to see the directions the project goes in the future.