The project tackles one of the fundamental open questions in cosmology: the nature of dark matter. The project aims to redefine the standards of the field by simulating three cosmological volumes in multiple scenarios: cold, warm and three self-interacting dark matter models.
This project will be the first to simulate the co-evolution of baryons and alternative dark matter on cosmological scales and in different models at the same time. Our simulations will include many thousands of galaxies of various masses and environments, enabling statistically significant and unbiased analyses.
By changing the underlying dark matter properties, they will provide insights into hierarchical structure formation, density profiles, scaling relations of galaxies, satellite properties, rotation curves and gravitational lensing - each with the potential to bring new insight into the characterisation of the nature of dark matter.
The team will employ AREPO, a state-of-the-art, massively MPI parallel code for astrophysics simulations, together with the TNG galaxy formation model. With the advent of next-generation telescopes, our project assumes added significance. By providing theoretical predictions and mock images, the simulations will guide the interpretation of observational results, aiding in the advancement of dark matter research and leaving a lasting impact on cosmology and the wider scientific community.