Bolshoi Cosmological Simulation

The Bolshoi simulation, a computer model of the universe run in 2010 on the Pleiades supercomputer at the NASA Ames Research Center, was the most accurate cosmological simulation to that date of the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe.[1] The Bolshoi simulation used the now-standard ΛCDM (Lambda-CDM) model of the universe and the WMAP five-year and seven-year cosmological parameters from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe team.[2] "The principal purpose of the Bolshoi simulation is to compute and model the evolution of dark matter halos, thereby rendering the invisible visible for astronomers to study, and to predict visible structure that astronomers can seek to observe."[3] “Bolshoi” is a Russian word meaning “big.”

The first two of a series of research papers describing Bolshoi and its implications were published in 2011 in the Astrophysical Journal.[4][5] The first data release of Bolshoi outputs has been made publicly available to the world's astronomers and astrophysicists.[6] The data include output from the Bolshoi simulation and from the BigBolshoi, or MultiDark, simulation of a volume 64 times that of Bolshoi.[7] The Bolshoi-Planck simulation, with the same resolution as Bolshoi, was run in 2013 on the Pleiades supercomputer using the Planck satellite team's cosmological parameters released in March 2013. The Bolshoi-Planck simulation is currently being analyzed in preparation for publication and distribution of its results in 2014.[8][9]

Bolshoi simulations continue to be developed as of 2018.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference IEEESpectrum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Hayes, Brian. "A Box of Universe". American Scientist. Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  3. ^ Primack, J.; Bell, T. (July 2012). "Supercomputer modeling is transforming cosmology from a purely observational science into an experimental science" (PDF). University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 31 Dec 2013.
  4. ^ Klypin, Anatoly A.; Trujillo-Gomez, Sebastian; Primack, Joel (20 Oct 2011). "Dark Matter Halos in the Standard Cosmological Model: Results from the Bolshoi Simulation" (PDF). The Astrophysical Journal. 740 (2): 102. arXiv:1002.3660. Bibcode:2011ApJ...740..102K. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/740/2/102. S2CID 16517863. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  5. ^ Trujillo-Gomez, Sebastian; Klypin, Anatoly; Primack, Joel; Romanowsky, Aaron J. (23 Sep 2011). "Galaxies in ΛCDM with Halo Abundance Matching: Luminosity-Velocity Relation, Baryonic Mass-Velocity Relation, Velocity Function, and Clustering" (PDF). The Astrophysical Journal. 742 (1): 16. arXiv:1005.1289. Bibcode:2011ApJ...742...16T. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/742/1/16. S2CID 53004003. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  6. ^ Riebe, Kristin; Partl, Adrian M.; Enke, Harry; Forero-Romero, Jaime; Gottloeber, Stefan; Klypin, Anatoly; Lemson, Gerard; Prada, Francisco; Primack, Joel R.; Steinmetz, Matthias; Turchaninov, Victor (August 2013). "The MultiDark Database: Release of the Bolshoi and MultiDark Cosmological Simulations". Astronomische Nachrichten. 334 (7): 691–708. arXiv:1109.0003. Bibcode:2013AN....334..691R. doi:10.1002/asna.201211900. S2CID 16512696. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  7. ^ "Introduction: The Bolshoi Simulation at UC-HiPACC". Bolshoi Cosmological Simulations. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  8. ^ Primack, Joel. "Computing the Universe". Los Alamos National Laboratory. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  9. ^ Primack, Joel. "Bolshoi-Planck Cosmological Simulation. Anatoly Klypin & Joel Primack" (PDF). University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center. p. 25. Retrieved 1 January 2014.