Simulating Galaxies Across Reionization: A Multiwavelength View

AST-1108700 Cen观测表明宇宙学的再电离历史可能相当复杂，要在基本水平上理解宇宙是如何被再电离的，以及是什么再电离了它，需要对再电离时期星系的形成有令人满意的理解。 当前和未来的观测正在并将在红移6以上的再电离时期探测到许多星系，解释这一丰富的数据集将需要一个综合的理论框架，用于数千万至100亿太阳质量的星系晕，尽可能从头开始构建，并从标准冷暗物质模型的第一原理出发。这项研究计划将建立这样一个框架，通过进行超高分辨率，宇宙学，自适应网格细化辐射流体动力学模拟，重点是在正确的质量范围内的星系，结合详细的物理处理与复杂的模拟后分析。 这项工作将大大推进高红移星系形成和宇宙再电离领域的研究。这些研究活动将纳入研究生和本科生的培训，并将纳入有效的推广计划，提高公众对宇宙学研究的科学理解。 进行这些模拟的需求推动了超级计算机和相关硬件和软件的技术进步，并推动了国家研究基础设施的发展。

AST-1108700CenObservations indicate that the cosmological reionization history may be quite complex, and to understand at a fundamental level how the universe was reionized and what reionized it, requires a satisfactory understanding of the formation of galaxies during the reionization epoch. Current and future observations are, and will be, detecting many galaxies in the reionization epoch above redshift six, and interpreting this rich dataset will require a comprehensive theoretical framework for galaxies in halos of tens of millions to ten billion solar masses, constructed as much as possible ab initio and from first principles in the standard cold dark matter model. This research program will establish such a framework by carrying out ultra-high-resolution, cosmological, adaptive mesh refinement radiation-hydrodynamic simulations focusing on galaxies in the right mass range, combining a detailed physical treatment with sophisticated post-simulation analysis. The work will significantly advance the fields both of galaxy formation at high redshift and of cosmological reionization.These research activities will be integrated into the training of graduate and undergraduate students, and will feed into an effective outreach program that improves the scientific understanding of the general public about cosmological research. The demands of carrying out these simulations push technological advances in supercomputers and related hardware and software, and drive the development of national research infrastructure.