Hydrodynamical Simulations of Cosmic Structure Formation

理解宇宙结构如何生长是现代宇宙学的关键挑战之一。它使我们能够更好地了解星系和星系团的起源，并探索我们宇宙的基本组成部分，如暗物质和暗能量的性质。结构的增长是一个高度非线性的过程，虽然受到重力的驱动，但需要模拟一系列天体物理过程，如辐射冷却，星星形成以及来自恒星和超大质量黑洞的强烈能量流出（反馈）。由于软件（模拟代码）和硬件（并行计算集群）的快速发展，使用流体动力学模拟的这些模型正在取得巨大进展。在这个项目中，学生将有机会参与开发，运行和分析这样的模拟。他们将能够作为Virgo联盟的一部分工作，Virgo联盟是计算宇宙学家的国际合作。在曼彻斯特，我们的工作主要集中在比较星系团的模拟与最新的多波长观测（例如星系团;使用X射线和Sunyaev-Zel'dovich效应研究热气体;以及引力透镜研究暗物质）。

Understanding how structure grows in the universe is one of the key challenges in modern cosmology. It allows us to better understand the origin of galaxies and galaxy clusters, as well as probe the nature of fundamental constituents of our Universe such as the dark matter and dark energy. The growth of structure is a highly non-linear process and, while driven by gravity, requires a range of astrophysical processes to be modelled such as radiative cooling, star formation and strong energy outflows (feedback) from stars and super-massive black holes. Massive progress is being made with these models using hydrodynamical simulations, thanks to the rapid advances in both software(simulation codes) and hardware (massively-parallel computing clusters). In this project, the student will have the opportunity to participate in developing, running and analysing such simulations. They will be able to work as part of the Virgo consortium, an international collaboration of computational cosmologists. In Manchester, our work is mainly focused on comparing simulations of galaxy clusters with the latest multi-wavelength observations (e.g. cluster galaxies; using X-rays and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects to study the hot gas; and gravitational lensing to study the dark matter).