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- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: simulation
Taiwan: War game simulation suggests Chinese invasion of Taiwan would fail at a huge cost to US, Chinese and Taiwanese militaries
CNN
—
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2026 would result in thousands of casualties among Chinese, United States, Taiwanese and Japanese forces, and it would be unlikely to result in a victory for Beijing, according to a prominent independent Washington think tank, which conducted war game simulations of a possible conflict that is preoccupying military and political leaders in Asia and Washington.
A war over Taiwan could leave a victorious US military in as crippled a state as the Chinese forces it defeated.
At the end of the conflict, at least two US aircraft carriers would lie at the bottom of the Pacific and China’s modern navy, which is the largest in the world, would be in “shambles.”
Those are among the conclusions the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), made after running what it claims is one of the most extensive war-game simulations ever conducted on a possible conflict over Taiwan, the democratically ruled island of 24 million that the Chinese Communist Party claims as part of its sovereign territory despite never having controlled it.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has refused to rule out the use of military force to bring the island under Beijing’s control.
CNN reviewed an advance copy of the report – titled “The First Battle of the Next War” – on the two dozen war scenarios run by CSIS, which said the project was necessary because previous government and private war simulations have been too narrow or too opaque to give the public and policymakers a true look at how conflict across the Taiwan Strait might play out.
“There’s no unclassified war game out there looking at the US-China conflict,” said Mark Cancian, one of the three project leaders and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Of the games that are unclassified, they’re usually only done once or twice.”
CSIS ran this war game 24 times to answer two fundamental questions: would the invasion succeed and at what cost?
The likely answers to those two questions are no and enormous, the CSIS report said.
“The United States and Japan lose dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft, and thousands of service members. Such losses would damage the US global position for many years,” the report said. In most scenarios, the US Navy lost two aircraft carriers and 10 to 20 large surface combatants. Approximately 3,200 US troops would be killed in three weeks of combat, nearly half of what the US lost in two decades of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“China also suffers heavily. Its navy is in shambles, the core of its amphibious forces is broken, and tens of thousands of soldiers are prisoners of war,” it said. The report estimated China would suffer about 10,000 troops killed and lose 155 combat aircraft and 138 major ships.
– Source:
CNN
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CNN
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Japan expands defense of its southern front line to counter China (April 2022)
The scenarios paint a bleak future for Taiwan, even if a Chinese invasion doesn’t succeed.
“While Taiwan’s military is unbroken, it is severely degraded and left to defend a damaged economy on an island without electricity and basic services,” the report. The island’s army would suffer about 3,500 casualties, and all 26 destroyers and frigates in its navy will be sunk, the report said.
Japan is likely to lose more than 100 combat aircraft and 26 warships while US military bases on its home territory come under Chinese attack, the report found.
But CSIS said it did not want its report to imply a war over Taiwan “is inevitable or even probable.”
“The Chinese leadership might adopt a strategy of diplomatic isolation, gray zone pressure, or economic coercion against Taiwan,” it said.
Dan Grazier, a senior defense policy fellow at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), sees an outright Chinese invasion of Taiwan as extremely unlikely. Such a military operation would immediately disrupt the imports and exports upon which the Chinese economy relies for its very survival, Grazier told CNN, and interrupting this trade risks the collapse of the Chinese economy in short order. China relies on imports of food and fuel to drive their economic engine, Grazier said, and they have little room to maneuver.
“The Chinese are going to do everything they can in my estimation to avoid a military conflict with anybody,” Grazier said. To challenge the United States for global dominance, they’ll use industrial and economic power instead of military force.
But Pentagon leaders have labeled China as America’s “pacing threat,” and last year’s China Military Power report mandated by Congress said “the PLA increased provocative and destabilizing actions in and around the Taiwan Strait, to include increased flights into Taiwan’s claimed air defense identification zone and conducting exercises focused on the potential seizure of one of Taiwan’s outlying islands.”
In August, the visit of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island prompted a wide-ranging display of PLA military might, which included sending missiles over the island as well as into the waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Since then, Beijing has stepped up aggressive military pressure tactics on the island, sending fighter jets across the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the body of water separating Taiwan and China and into the island’s air defense identification zone – a buffer of airspace commonly referred to as an ADIZ.
And speaking about Taiwan at the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress in October, Chinese leader Xi Jinping won large applause when he said China would “strive for peaceful reunification” — but then gave a grim warning, saying “we will never promise to renounce the use of force and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.”
The Biden administration has been steadfast in its support for the island as provided by the Taiwan Relations Act, which said Washington will provide the island with the means to defend itself without committing US troops to that defense.
The recently signed National Defense Authorization Act commits the US to a program to modernize Taiwan’s military and provides for $10 billion of security assistance over five years, a strong sign of long-term bipartisan support for the island.
Biden, however, has said more than once that US military personnel would defend Taiwan if the Chinese military were to launch an invasion, even as the Pentagon has insisted there is no change in Washington’s “One China” policy.
Under the “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing’s claim to the self-governing island.
“Wars happen even when objective analysis might indicate that the attacker might not be successful,” said Cancian.
The CSIS report said for US troops to prevent China from ultimately taking control of Taiwan, there were four constants that emerged among the 24 war game iterations it ran:
Taiwan’s ground forces must be able to contain Chinese beachheads; the US must be able to use its bases in Japan for combat operations; the US must have long-range anti-ship missiles to hit the PLA Navy from afar and “en masse”; and the US needs to fully arm Taiwan before shooting starts and jump into any conflict with its own forces immediately.
“There is no ‘Ukraine model’ for Taiwan,” the report said, referring to how US and Western aid slowly trickled in to Ukraine well after Russia’s invasion of its neighbor started and no US or NATO troops are actively fighting against Russia.
“Once the war begins, it’s impossible to get any troops or supplies onto Taiwan, so it’s a very different situation from Ukraine where the United States and its allies have been able to send supplies continuously to Ukraine,” said Cancian. “Whatever the Taiwanese are going to fight the war with, they have to have that when the war begins.”
Washington will need to begin acting soon if it’s to meet some of the CSIS recommendations for success in a Taiwan conflict, the think tank said.
Those include, fortifying US bases in Japan and Guam against Chinese missile attacks; moving its naval forces to smaller and more survivable ships; prioritizing submarines; prioritizing sustainable bomber forces over fighter forces; but producing more cheaper fighters; and pushing Taiwan toward a similar strategy, arming itself with more simple weapons platforms rather than expensive ships that are unlikely to survive a Chinese first strike.
Those policies would make winning less costly for the US military, but the toll would still be high, the CSIS report said.
“The United States might win a pyrrhic victory, suffering more in the long run than the ‘defeated’ Chinese.”
“Victory is not everything,” the report said.
– Source:
CNN
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CNN
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Breakdown in US-China relations a ‘manufactured crisis,’ US ambassador says (August 2022)
Kickstarter campaign launched for open-world life simulation game The Witch of Fern Island
Polish developer Enjoy Studio” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/enjoy-studio”>Enjoy Studio has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Open-World [124 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/open-world”>open-world life Simulation [174 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/simulation”>simulation game The Witch of Fern Island” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/the-witch-of-fern-island”>The Witch of Fern Island. It is seeking €15,000 in funding.
The Witch of Fern Island is planned for an Early Access release for PC [16,238 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam in Q1 2023, followed by a full release across consoles and PC in Q1 2024.
“We want people playing The Witch of Fern Island to enjoy the progress resulting from the slow-paced, yet satisfying gameplay,” said Enjoy Studio game director Patryk Pietraszkiewicz in a press release. “Our game can be classified as a ‘cozy game,’ but we wanted it to become something more. The magical world of Fern Island is palpable in both gameplay and story levels. It allows us to present people’s stories from a more personal, deeper perspective.”
Here is an overview of the game, via Enjoy Studio:
About
The Witch of Fern Island is a new game from Polish developer Enjoy Studio. Players will take the role of a young girl called Abrill, who wants to become a certified Witch. The story takes place on the titular Fern Island–an alternative world heavily influenced by three different cultures inhabiting it and shrouded in a magical aura with fantastic fauna and flora. The player’s task is to pass the academic internship in order to complete the Witches exam. Abrill will live on the island, bringing help and support to the local community. It is up to the player to determine the fate of this land and its people. Players will be free to explore a vast open world on foot, mounted, or on a flying broomstick!
The Witch of Fern Island highlights the importance of culture in human life. Getting to know the inhabitants and their problems from Abrill’s perspective will allow you to reflect on the search for happiness and purpose in life. The characters’ personal stories teach that simple gestures of kindness can change people’s lives and revitalize a divided community. However, it all depends on what path the player will follow, as Abrill’s behavior will be assessed, as a part of the internship.
The Witch of Fern Island combines gameplay elements of multiple categories: sandbox, open world with RPG elements, adventure, and exploration. The game has no end, the daily and calendar systems allow players to feel the passage of time—they can observe changes in the community, the seasons of the year and take part in various holidays and festivals. There will always be interesting activities on Fern Island! Fishing, photography, archeology, catching insects, researching local flora and fauna, or participating in festivals and games! All this and more will allow you to experience an immersive adventure as a real witch!
Key Features
- Witchcraft [62 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/witchcraft”>Witchcraft – characters’ skill progression includes learning new spells, rituals, and exploring magical knowledge. The player’s operational center is Birch Grove. We give the player a building that can be personalized and furnished according to personal preferences. Here, the player can craft new magic potions, store the acquired items, rest, sell created items to the island’s inhabitants, and much more! An equally important place is the farm, where the player can grow plants, vegetables and herbs, while experimenting with their magical varieties. The player also has to take care of fantastic animals that can be bred on the farm.
- Exploration – Fern Island is a colorful, lively and diverse world that hides many secrets. As the game progresses, players will unlock new passages that allow them to reach unexplored places. By discovering individual parts of the island, players can find new ingredients and characters with whom they can interact. This will expand the range of available options for the player and provide access to information that enables solving age-old mysteries. Noteworthy is the mirror image of the world—“Astra,” which players will be able to access through the portals hidden on the island. It is an alternative world, which can only be entered by characters with magical abilities—such as Abrill.
- Town – There is a town on the island, where players will find inhabitants living their lives. They have dreams, problems, and different character traits—each one is different and unique. During the day, they work, or spend their free time in their own way, they sleep at night and during the holidays—have fun at jointly organized parties. They share a common bond and their relationships that are not always friendly. Inhabitants have various problems that the player can help to resolve, and thus influence their fate. A town is a place where players can find shops, restaurants, bars, and places of local culture.
Watch the official trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.
Official Trailer
Life simulation game Sword and Fairy Inn 2 coming to Switch in late 2022; PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, and Xbox One in early 2023
Publisher eastasiasoft [76 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/eastasiasoft”>eastasiasoft will release Softstar Entertainment [30 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/softstar-entertainment”>Softstar Entertainment and CubeGame [8 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/cubegame”>CubeGame-developed life Simulation [155 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/simulation”>simulation game Sword and Fairy Inn 2 [1 article]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/sword-and-fairy-inn-2″>Sword and Fairy Inn 2 for Switch [12,301 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/nintendo/switch”>Switch in late 2022, followed by PS5 [3,497 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps5″>PlayStation 5, Xbox Series [2,740 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-series”>Xbox Series, PS4 [23,977 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps4″>PlayStation 4, and Xbox One [11,442 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-one”>Xbox One in early 2023, the company announced.
Sword and Fairy Inn 2 first launched for PC via Steam on July 7.
Here is an overview of the game, via eastasiasoft:
About
Familiar faces from across the Sword and Fairy universe come together to run an inn and build a happy life in Sword and Fairy Inn 2, a cute and casual life Strategy RPG [121 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/rpg/strategy-rpg”>simulation RPG that combines a huge variety of gameplay mechanics in adorable chibi style! Manage a family restaurant, travel the world to find legendary kitchenware and trade special food items, grow crops, play mini games and more! But above all else, you’ll need to make sure your customers are happy with the services you provide, which will bring more people to the village and make your inn a bustling success story.
As you manage the inn, you’ll be able to assign specific roles to each character you meet and recruit, and as you progress, you’ll learn more about each of your companions—their goals, personalities, skills and their often-comical flaws. This is a lighthearted take on the Sword and Fairy world, one that’s comforting and familiar for long-time fans but also welcoming to newcomers.
Key Features
- Manage a restaurant, inn, gardens and more in a standalone life sim spin-off of Sword and Fairy!
- Explore the surrounding countryside to gather special ingredients and Cooking [1 article]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/cooking”>cooking wares.
- Meet characters from across the Sword and Fairy universe and recruit them as staff!
- Grow your village as you attract more business and keep customers happy.
- Celebrate the expansive world of Sword and Fairy in colorful chibi style.
- Enjoy a wide variety of unique play mechanics and mini-games!
David Iserson’s “This, but Again” and idea that we’re living in a simulation.
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New simulation charts how the early universe developed within seconds of the Big Bang
A new simulation maps the first few seconds after the Big Bang, focusing on what scientists call the intergalactic medium, or the gas and dust between galaxies.
A team led by researchers at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) used machine learning, a type of algorithm in which a computer is trained to recognize patterns, to complete 100,000 hours of computation. The algorithm for this project is called Hydro-BAM.
This new work allowed researchers to chart phenomena including dark matter, energized gas, neutral hydrogen and other cosmic ingredients that are essential to understanding the structure of our universe, IAC representatives said in a May 20 statement (opens in new tab).
Related: The history of the universe: Big Bang to now in 10 easy steps
“The research has also made it possible to reproduce with high precision the so-called ‘Lyman-alpha forests,'” they added. That is a particular pattern of lines in a spectrum (light signature) of galaxies and similar objects created when clouds of hydrogen gas in the way absorb the galactic light.
“These ‘virtual universes’ serve as test beds for the study of cosmology,” the researchers added. “However, the simulations are computationally very expensive, and current computing facilities only allow [us] to explore small cosmic volumes.”
Hydro-BAM is designed to include probability, machine learning and cosmology, meaning the history of the universe. “This algorithm has made it possible to obtain very accurate predictions in just a few tens of seconds,” the researchers said.
Charting the absorption lines in the galactic spectra allowed the team to learn about where the clouds of hydrogen gas are located. Location is a proxy for distance, given that the universe is continually expanding. The clouds also give clues as to what is contained in the intergalactic medium of gas and dust.
“The breakthrough came when we understood that the connections between the quantities of intergalactic gas, dark matter and neutral hydrogen that we were trying to model are well organized in a hierarchical way,” Francesco Sinigaglia, a doctoral student at the University of La Laguna in Spain, the IAC and the University of Padua in Italy, and lead author of the research, said in the statement.
The most recent study on the research was published in March in The Astrophysical Journal, and a related study was published in the same journal in November 2021.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook.
Record-breaking simulation hints at how climate shaped human migration
The early human species Homo heidelbergensis (skull shown) might have been able to spread across Earth because wetter, more migration-friendly weather conditions arose, according to a climate model.Credit: Javier Trueba/MSF/Science Photo Library
A colossal simulation of the past two million years of Earth’s climate provides evidence that temperature and other planetary conditions influenced early human migration — and possibly contributed to the emergence of the modern-day human species around 300,000 years ago.
The finding is one of many to come out of the largest model so far to investigate how changes in Earth’s movement have influenced climate and human evolution, published in Nature1 today. “This is another brick in the wall to support the role of climate in shaping human ancestry,” says Peter de Menocal, director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
The idea that climate might have a significant role in human evolution has been around since at least the 1920s2, when scientists started debating whether drier conditions had led early human ancestors to begin walking on two feet, to adapt to life on the savannah. But so far, researchers have struggled to provide strong evidence that climate played a part in shaping humanity.
Orbital influence
In the latest study, Axel Timmermann, a climate physicist at Pusan National University in South Korea, and his colleagues ran a climate model on a supercomputer for six months to reconstruct how temperature and rainfall might have shaped what resources were available to humans over the past few million years. Specifically, the researchers examined how long-term fluctuations in climate brought about by Earth’s astronomical movement might have created the conditions to spur human evolution.
The push and pull of other planets alters Earth’s climate by changing both the planet’s tilt, and the shape of its orbit. Over 41,000-year cycles, Earth’s tilt oscillates, affecting the intensity of seasons and changing how much rain falls over the tropics. And over 100,000-year cycles, Earth goes from having a more circular orbit — which brings more sunlight and longer summers — to having a more elliptical orbit, which reduces sunlight and can lead to periods of glacial formation.
Timmermann and his colleagues used a simulation that incorporated these astonomical changes, and then combined their results with thousands of fossils and other archaeological evidence to work out where and when six species of humans — including the early Homo erectus and the modern Homo sapiens — could have lived.
Movements and mixing
The study pumped out a dizzying amount of data, and Timmermann says that several interesting patterns emerged. For instance, the researchers’ analysis showed that an early human species, Homo heidelbergensis, started expanding its habitat around 700,000 years ago. Some scientists have thought that this species might have given rise to a slew of others across the globe, including Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) in Eurasia and H. sapiens somewhere in Africa.
The model suggests that the distribution of H. heidelbergensis across the globe was possible because a more elliptical orbit created wetter climate conditions that allowed the species to migrate more widely. The simulation also showed that the most habitable regions, in terms of climate, shifted over time, and the fossil record tracked along with them.
“The global collection of skulls and tools is not randomly distributed in time,” Timmermann says. “It follows a pattern” that overlaps with climate change driven by Earth’s movement. “This is amazing to me — here is a pattern that nobody so far was able to see.”
One part of this pattern might provide fresh insight into where and how our own species emerged. Some genetic studies of modern-day hunter-gather groups in sub-Saharan Africa — who tend to be genetically isolated — suggest that H. sapiens is the outcome of a single evolutionary event in southern Africa. But other studies point to a more complex story, in which humanity began as a hotchpotch of many different groups of ancient Africans that, together, evolved into modern-day humans.
Timmermann and his colleagues say that their climate reconstruction favours the single-evolutionary-path hypothesis. The model suggests that our species evolved when H. heidelbergensis in southern Africa started losing liveable habitat during an unusually warm period. This population could have evolved into H. sapiens by adapting to the hotter, drier conditions.
But this finding is unlikely to end debate. “To make the case that a particular climate event led to a speciation event is really hard”, in part because of gaps in the fossil and genetic record, says Tyler Faith, a palaeobiologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
The same goes for many of the other patterns reported in the paper. “The people who’ve spent a career studying this will either be in violent agreement or disagreement with the propositions here,” de Menocal says. The model, however, is a “phenomenal accomplishment in and of itself” and “gives you a template to ask these questions”.
Most researchers that spoke to Nature say that more evidence will be needed to prove that astronomical cycles influenced the trajectory of human ancestry. “If solving the mystery of climate change and human evolution could be dealt with in one paper, it would have been done 40 years ago,” Faith says.
Which is why Timmermann and his colleagues are planning to run even larger models, including ones that integrate genetic data.
New simulation shows ancient universe
Scientific research is normally about chemistry but this time its history.
Researchers are using epic computing powers to develop a simulation of the ancient universe.
Some 13 billion years of galactic evolution are being recreated by Thesan, a computer program built by the Center for Astrophysics.
The name Thesan is a nod to the mythological goddess of dawn.
The simulation’s code is built on our present understanding of how time, space, and matter interact.
“We are able to take basic physics equations and governing theoretical models to simulate what happened in the early universe,” astrophysicist Rahul Kannan told Universe Today.
The period under observation by Thesan is called the Cosmic Dark Ages – which started about 400,000 years after the Big Bang and ended one billion years later.
“The scales of space and time are too large, so the only way we can do experiments is on computers,” Kannan said.
In the simulation, the universe lit up gradually as the cosmos formed.
Meanwhile, the James Webb Space Telescope is collecting data that might validate the simulation’s projection.
Aimed into deep space, the James Webb Space Telescope can look back in time.
The light from distant space can take eons to reach our sector of the galaxy and the telescope’s lens, giving us glimpses of the past.
The full library of Thesan simulations will be made available to the public by mid-2022.
Some of the simulations yielded by Thesan have been uploaded to the project’s website.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.
Kairosoft’s Classic Simulation Game Dev Story Is Now On Steam
Readers, an occasional dabble with emulation and board game ports aside, I don’t normally play games on my phone. Ever. But over the years I have made one major concession and played the shit out of a series of management games released by Japanese studio Kairosoft.
From the mid-90s onwards, Kairosoft has been incredibly successful releasing game after game that often have the same foundations—taking on a business/place/organisation and making it as wonderful as you can—but with minor tweaks and changes to their settings that keep things just fresh enough that you want to play more than one.
Most Kairosoft releases have been on mobile, with a few Windows ports, but this is somehow the first time these games have hit Steam, meaning it’s also going to be a lot of people’s first opportunity to try them out. Which I highly recommend!
Sure, they may be lacking the depth of games designed with the desktop in mind, and some windows and controls are looking a little janky on bigger screens, but the two things that make Kairosoft games great—their crunchy numbers and overwhelming heart—are still there.
Not every Kairosoft game available in English has been released; only five are out so far, though that number includes Game Dev Story, which is one that many fans would suggest you try first anyway, since it’s a challenging, funny and weirdly accurate look at the ways the game industry has changed over the last few decades (though this game is now old enough that it is itself feeling a little dated). It may also—and I’m sorry to put you in this position—make you feel an ounce of understanding for the role of a money-hungry video game executive.
Hopefully Mega Mall Story (where you run a mall) and their excellent sports management games, Grand Prix Story and Pocket League Story, aren’t too far behind.
Stunning Video Showcases the Largest, Most Detailed Simulation of the Early Universe to Date
Small clip of the Thesan simulation. See video in article below.
Named after a goddess of the dawn, the Thesan simulation of the first billion years helps explain how radiation shaped the early universe.
It all started around 13.8 billion years ago with a big, cosmological “bang” that brought the universe suddenly and spectacularly into existence. Shortly after, the infant universe cooled dramatically and went completely dark.
Then, within a couple hundred million years after the 
Evolution of simulated properties in the main Thesan run. Time progresses from left to right. The dark matter (top panel) collapse in the cosmic web structure, composed of clumps (haloes) connected by filaments, and the gas (second panel from the top) follows, collapsing to create galaxies. These produce ionizing photons that drive cosmic reionization (third panel from the top), heating up the gas in the process (bottom panel). Credit: Courtesy of THESAN Simulations
With Thesan, the researchers can simulate a cubic volume of the universe spanning 300 million light years across. They run the simulation forward in time to track the first appearance and evolution of hundreds of thousands of galaxies within this space, beginning around 400,000 years after the Big Bang, and through the first billion years.
So far, the simulations align with what few observations astronomers have of the early universe. As more observations are made of this period, for instance with the newly launched 
Thesan simulation of gas and radiation evolution shows rendering of the neutral hydrogen gas. Colors represent density and the brightness, revealing the patchy reionization structure within a network of high-density neutral-gas filaments.
Cosmic bridge
With the simulation’s ingredients in place, the team set its initial conditions for around 400,000 years after the Big Bang, based on precision measurements of relic light from the Big Bang. They then evolved these conditions forward in time to simulate a patch of the universe, using the SuperMUC-NG machine — one of the largest supercomputers in the world — which simultaneously harnessed 60,000 computing cores to carry out Thesan’s calculations over an equivalent of 30 million CPU hours (an effort that would have taken 3,500 years to run on a single desktop).
The simulations have produced the most detailed view of cosmic reionization, across the largest volume of space, of any existing simulation. While some simulations model across large distances, they do so at relatively low resolution, while other, more detailed simulations do not span large volumes.
“We are bridging these two approaches: We have both large volume and high resolution,” Vogelsberger emphasizes.
Early analyses of the simulations suggest that towards the end of cosmic reionization, the distance light was able to travel increased more dramatically than scientists had previously assumed.
“Thesan found that light doesn’t travel large distances early in the universe,” Kannan says. “In fact, this distance is very small, and only becomes large at the very end of reionization, increasing by a factor of 10 over just a few hundred million years.”
The researchers also see hints of the type of galaxies responsible for driving reionization. A galaxy’s mass appears to influence reionization, though the team says more observations, taken by James Webb and other observatories, will help to pin down these predominant galaxies.
“There are a lot of moving parts in [modeling cosmic reionization],” Vogelsberger concludes. “When we can put this all together in some kind of machinery and start running it and it produces a dynamic universe, that’s for all of us a pretty rewarding moment.”
Reference: “The thesan project: Lyman-a emission and transmission during the Epoch of Reionization” by A Smith, R Kannan, E Garaldi, M Vogelsberger, R Pakmor, V Springel and L Hernquist, 24 March 2022, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac713
This research was supported in part by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Gauss Center for Supercomputing.