Observing Virtual Universes

该项目将通过提供对千年数据库的访问，使美国的天文学研究界和公众受益，千年数据库是世界上最重要和最广泛使用的模拟，迄今为止，它完全是欧洲的努力，在德国出版和维护，在其他地方基本上无法访问。 一旦建立，其他模拟数据集将在以后提供，提供具有巨大价值的资源，能够为美国科学家带来有意义的变化。 将创建的虚拟数值实验室代表了广泛适用于许多科学和教育奋进的技术解决方案。具有大动态范围的宇宙计算机模拟，模拟可观测宇宙的统计代表性部分，是探索宇宙结构的重要组成部分，特别是星系如何形成，它们在空间中如何分布，以及环境如何影响它们的进化。 这种模拟产生的数据集在规模和丰富程度上已开始超过最大的观测调查结果，使支持所需复杂算法的计算和存储资源紧张。 这一点尤其正确，因为许多分析将由没有参与原始工作的科学家执行，并且可能不熟悉模拟输出的属性。 该项目将允许访问原始模拟，同时扩展和完成可以直接与望远镜数据进行比较的合成观测的创建。 该系统将使专家和非专家能够调查模拟产生的虚拟宇宙，并将其与观测结果相匹配，形成一个虚拟观测台，可以获得从原始输出到理想化中间产品再到现实模型观测的一切信息。 用户可以研究引力坍缩的尺度关系和不同的聚类模式等方面，并研究系统偏差和信息损失。 目标是让每个人都能对模拟数据进行科学实验，而目前只有专家才能完成。这项研究将创建广泛可用的技术解决方案，将原始PB大小的模拟输出文件与结构化关系数据库联系起来，直接应用于湍流和基因组学。 观测领域的正向建模将有益于理论和模拟必须由非专家解释的任何领域。 该项目将使约翰霍普金斯集团成为欧洲处女座联盟的核心美国合作伙伴，并进一步在美国建立公共模拟数据库。

This project will benefit both the research astronomy community and the general public in the US by providing access to the Millennium Database, the most important and widely used simulation worldwide, which has so far been a fully European effort, published and maintained in Germany, and largely inaccessible elsewhere. Once established, other simulation datasets will later be made available, providing a resource of tremendous value, capable of making a meaningful difference to US scientists. The virtual numerical laboratory that will be created represents technical solutions widely applicable to many areas of scientific and educational endeavor.Cosmological computer simulations with large dynamic range that model statistically representative parts of the observable universe are an essential component of the quest to understand the structure of the universe, and in particular how galaxies form, how they are distributed in space, and how environment influences their evolution. The data sets produced by such simulations have started to exceed in size and richness the results of the largest observational surveys, straining the computational and storage resources that support the required complex algorithms. This is especially true because much of the analysis will be performed by scientists who were not involved in the original work and may be unfamiliar with the properties of the simulation outputs. This project will allow access to the original simulations, and simultaneously extend and complete the creation of synthetic observations that can be directly compared to telescope data. The system will allow experts and non-experts to investigate the virtual universes created by simulations and match them to observation, by forming a virtual observatory with access to everything from raw outputs, through idealized intermediate products, to realistic model observations. Users can investigate such aspects of gravitational collapse as scaling relations and distinct clustering patterns, and study systematic biases and information loss. The objective is to enable everyone to perform the sort of scientific experiments on simulation data that can currently only be done by specialists.The broadly usable technical solutions that will be created by this study will tie raw Petabyte size simulation output files to structured relational databases, with direct applications as diverse as turbulence and genomics. Forward modelling to the observational domain will benefit any area where theory and simulation must be interpreted by non-specialists. The project will establish the Johns Hopkins group as a core US partner in the European Virgo Consortium, and further establish a public simulation database effort in the US.