RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Pushing the Frontier of Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Formation

Project Title: Pushing the Frontier of Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Formation
PI: Harley Katz
Award Type: 3-Year IIRP-Based
Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
Division/School: Physical Sciences
Start Year: 2024
Description:

The recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revolutionized our understanding of the early Universe. Representing one of the largest single investments in astronomy (~$10 billion), JWST can peer deeper into the Universe than ever before, opening a new frontier to study the properties of the first stars and galaxies to form after the Big Bang. Interpreting the data generated by JWST is a complex theoretical challenge that requires forward-modeling the detailed interactions between gravity, hydrodynamics, radiation, magnetic fields, dust, chemistry, cosmic rays, and star/black hole formation self-consistently in a 3D cosmological environment. While each of these physics modules have been developed independently, no simulation software to-date has coupled all of these relevant processes together. This three-year project is designed to bring together experts from Europe and Chicago who have been developing software independently to combine their efforts into a single, open-source, state-of-the-art galaxy formation software. The project will consist of a hackathon in year 1 to merge the codes, a workshop in year 2 to educate new users on how best to exploit the software, and a conference in year 3 to present results of the new simulation to the wider galaxy formation community.