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Scientists at the Department of Energy\u2019s Argonne National Laboratory have created the largest astrophysical simulation of the Universe ever. They used what was until recently the world\u2019s most powerful supercomputer to simulate the Universe at an unprecedented scale. The simulation\u2019s size corresponds to the largest surveys conducted by powerful telescopes and observatories.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The Frontier Supercomputer is located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. It\u2019s the second-fasted supercomputer in the world, behind only El Capitan, which pulled ahead in November, 2024. Frontier is the world\u2019s first exascale supercomputer, though El Capitan has joined the ranks of exascale supercomputing.<\/p>\n The new Frontier simulation is record-breaking and is now the largest simulation of the Universe ever conducted. Its exascale computing allows it to simulate a level of detail that was unreachable prior to its implementation. Exascale is so advanced that it\u2019s difficult to fully exploit its capabilities without new programming paradigms.<\/p>\n Frontier is a significant leap in astrophysical simulations. It covers a volume of the Universe that\u2019s 10 billion light years across. It incorporates detailed physics models for dark matter, dark energy, gas dynamics, star formation, and black hole growth. It should provide new insights into some of the fundamental processes in the Universe, such as how galaxies form and how the large-scale structure of the Universe evolves. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are two components in the universe: dark matter\u2014which as far as we know, only interacts gravitationally\u2014and conventional matter, or atomic matter.\u201d said project lead Salman Habib, division director for Computational Sciences at Argonne.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, if we want to know what the universe is up to, we need to simulate both of these things: gravity as well as all the other physics including hot gas, and the formation of stars, black holes and galaxies,\u201d he said. \u201cThe astrophysical \u2018kitchen sink\u2019 so to speak. These simulations are what we call cosmological hydrodynamics simulations.\u201d<\/p>\n Cosmological hydrodynamics simulations combine cosmology with hydrodynamics and allow astronomers to examine the complex interrelationships between gravity and things like gas dynamics and stellar processes that have shaped and continue to shape our Universe. They can only be conducted with supercomputers because of the level of complexity and the vast number of numerical equations and calculations involved.<\/p>\n \n