Creating Galaxies in a Virtual Universe

Imagine being able to create a virtual the Universe, complete with
realistic galaxies and quasars, inside a computer. The EAGLE project
aims to do exactly this. The first phase of the project make a
ground-breaking step, creating a virtual Universe in which the masses
and sizes of the galaxies formed compared well with observations. This
creates a 'laboratory' with which we can experiment with galaxy
formation, quantifying the roles of the physical processes such as gas
cooling, metal enrichment and feedback from stars and black holes. The
current EAGLE simulations are, however, limited in two
respects. Firstly the simulations only marginally resolve galaxies,
making it hard to reliably study the internal structure of the
galaxies (such as their Hubble-type and morphology). Secondly the
simulations have relatively small volume, sufficient to understand the
average properties of galaxies, but not to understand the diversity of
the galaxy population. A larger volume simulation would also break new
ground in using galaxies to test theoretical models for the growth of
cosmic structure and to search for deviations from Einstein gravity.
In this project, the student will join the Eagle team in advancing to
the next level of realism and volume.