Simulating Cosmic Reionization

宇宙再电离研究的进展影响了许多领域，从莱曼α森林的热演化到大范围红移的星系特性。由于观测条件有限，理论模拟和数值模拟在再电离研究中所起的作用相对较大。peta尺度的计算性能很好地满足了现实再电离模拟的需要，因此可以预期在未来几年内取得实质性进展。目前的研究将在将大量计算量与完全自洽的物理模型相结合的模拟中达到高潮，为再电离本身以及星系和莱曼- α发射体的演化提供重要的见解。仿真结果将与现有的近似数值和解析格式进行比较，以测试通常采用的近似的物理保真度。这个项目是研究生专业训练的绝佳工具，其结果将对大量的科学家有用，从纯理论家到观察者到实验家。这项工作也将影响到本科教育和公众。这种宇宙学研究的可视化激发了人们的好奇心和只有在探索宇宙时才能获得的发现感。这些新一代的模拟将带来一个质的改进，三维可视化先前由该小组开发，并在阿德勒天文馆使用。

Advances in the study of cosmic reionization affect many fields, from the thermal evolution of the Lyman-alpha forest to the properties of galaxies over a large range of redshifts. Because the observational constraints are limited, theoretical modeling and numerical simulation play a relatively larger part in reionization studies than in other areas. Computational performance at the peta scale is well matched to the needs of a realistic reionization simulation, so that substantial progress can be expected in the next several years. The present research will culminate in simulations that combine large computational volumes with fully self-consistent physical modeling, providing important insights into reionization itself and into the evolution of galaxies and Lyman-alpha emitters. The simulation results will be compared with existing approximate numerical and analytical schemes, to test the physical fidelity of customarily adopted approximations.This project is an excellent vehicle for the professional training of a graduate student, and the results will be useful to a large community of scientists, from pure theorists to observers to experimentalists. The work will also impact undergraduate education and the general public. Visualization of such cosmological research stimulates curiosity and that sense of discovery afforded only by the exploration of the universe. These next-generation simulations will bring a qualitative improvement to three-dimensional visualizations previously developed by this group and used at the Adler Planetarium.