This proposal is for a provisional allocation of time on the Blue Waters computer system, due to become operational in 2011, and for travel funds to support technical coordination with the Blue Waters project team.
The project will use Blue Waters to make numerical simulations of galaxy formation and the evolution of the universe, based on fundamental physics, that (a) will be tested against a suite of cosmological data-sets from new ground and space based, (b) will be used as a training set to define the parameters of the next generation of very large cosmological observational experiments. Two different ab initio cosmological simulation codes will be used, Enzo and a new code, Hydro Tree Particle Mesh (HTPM), that adds smooth particle hydrodynamics to an existing tree particle mesh code.
The simulation output will be used to study galaxies with stellar masses M_⋆ > 10^9 M_Solar, computing star formation and mass assembly history, quantifying luminosity functions and colors in various bands at z = 0 − 10, constructing light-cone data using the simulation output, computing galaxy number counts, and providing detailed predictions of galaxy clustering and its evolution as functions of luminosity, color and environment. The purpose of this is to determine when and how galaxies form, and how they evolved in the early universe.
The project will include undergraduate and graduate researchers, and will produce spectacular visualizations that will be used for public outreach and education in cosmology.
