New supercomputer simulation to test model behind Universe’s formation

The MillenniumTNG supercomputer simulations will allow scientists to carry out precision tests of the standard cosmological model – used by physicists to explain Universe formation following the Big Bang.

The researchers, including experts in our Department of Physics/Institute for Computational Cosmology, say their simulations are essential for interpreting observational studies of space being done by the James Webb Space Telescope and the Euclid satellite.

Dark energy and dark matter

This means scientists will be able to investigate the nature of dark energy and dark matter by comparing the actual Universe to virtual universes created in a supercomputer.

Dark energy is thought to be behind the accelerating expansion of the Universe, while dark matter is the structural backbone — not visible through telescopes — upon which galaxies eventually form.

Both make up the majority of the Universe’s total content (with the remaining five per cent being stars, planets and galaxies) but scientists do not know what they are made of.

Powerful supercomputers

Two extremely powerful supercomputers were used to carry out the MillenniumTNG simulations – COSMA 8, hosted by Durham, and SuperMUC-NG machine at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Germany.

MillenniumTNG is tracking the formation of about one hundred million galaxies in a region of the Universe around 2,400 million light-years across.

Using COSMA 8, the team also computed an even bigger volume of the Universe nearly ten billion light-years across - filled with more than a trillion particles to represent dark matter and more than ten billion particles to track massive neutrinos.

Neutrino mass

Neutrinos rarely interact with normal matter and previous simulations had usually omitted them for simplicity.

However, cosmological surveys such as Euclid and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey will be precise enough to detect the percent-level effects of neutrinos.

This raises the prospect of measuring neutrino mass, a profound open question in particle physics.

Find out more

• Read the research papers behind MillenniumTNG.

• Durham University’s team includes Dr Sownak Bose, Professor Carlos Frenk and their fellow researchers in our Institute for Computational Cosmology/Department of Physics.

• MillenniumTNG is led by researchers at Durham, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany and Harvard University, USA. It also includes York University, Canada, and the Donostia International Physics Center, Spain.

• Durham hosts the COSMA 8 supercomputer on behalf of the UK’s DiRAC High-Performance Computing facility.

• Our Department of Physics is a thriving centre for research and education. Ranked 2^nd in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2023 and in the World Top 100 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023, we are proud to deliver a teaching and learning experience for students which closely aligns with the research-intensive values and practices of the University. Feeling inspired? Visit our Physics webpages to learn more about our postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Durham University is a top 100 world university. In the QS World University Rankings 2024, we were ranked 78th globally. 

Main banner image shows projections of gas (top left), dark matter (top right), and stellar light (bottom centre) from the MillenniumTNG simulation at (sections left to right) 100, ten and one megaparsec. Credit: MPA.