1.5.2.a Grand Challenge Problem:
Simulation of X-Ray Clusters
By comparing numerical simulations and the real universe, scientists hope
to learn more about the composition and distribution of the mysterious
dark which pervades the universe. X-ray clusters are clusters of galaxies
immersed in halos of million-degree gas which emit energy in the form
of X-rays. Astronomers study X-ray clusters because they map out the large-scale
structure of the universe. Scientists at the Laboratory for Computational
Astrophysics, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, at the
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign studied the formation of X-ray
clusters using numerical simulations running on massively parallel computers.
Their model represented a cube 500 million light years on each side. The
cube was divided into a network of 134 million smaller cubes, each approximately
one million light years on a side. In each cell, they solved the equations
of hydrodynamics (these deal with the motions of the gas) to predict the
behavior of gas density, pressure, temperature, and volume. Image from
G. Bryan and M. Norman, NCSA.
Note: The following link will open in a new window.
By comparing numerical simulations and the real universe, scientists hope
to learn more about the composition and distribution of the mysterious
dark which pervades the universe. X-ray clusters are clusters of galaxies
immersed in halos of million-degree gas which emit energy in the form
of X-rays. Astronomers study X-ray clusters because they map out the large-scale
structure of the universe. Scientists at the Laboratory for Computational
Astrophysics, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, at the
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign studied the formation of X-ray
clusters using numerical simulations running on massively parallel computers.
Their model represented a cube 500 million light years on each side. The
cube was divided into a network of 134 million smaller cubes, each approximately
one million light years on a side. In each cell, they solved the equations
of hydrodynamics (these deal with the motions of the gas) to predict the
behavior of gas density, pressure, temperature, and volume. Image from
G. Bryan and M. Norman, NCSA.