Using the Titan supercomputer at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a team of astrophysicists created a set of galactic wind simulations of the highest resolution ever performed. The simulations will allow researchers to gather and interpret more accurate, detailed data that explains how galactic winds affect the formation and evolution of galaxies.
Brant Robertson of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Evan Schneider of Princeton University developed the simulation suite to better understand galactic winds—outflows of gas released by supernova explosions—which could help explain variations in their density and temperature distributions. The improved set of galactic wind simulations will be incorporated into larger cosmological simulations.
“We now have a much clearer idea of how the high-speed, high-temperature gas produced by clusters of supernovae is ejected after mixing with the cooler, denser gas in the disk of the galaxy,” Schneider said.
UT-Battelle LLC manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE’s Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.
This video visualizes galactic winds driven by star clusters distributed throughout the galactic disk. View the original video. Credit: Evan Schneider/Princeton University and Brant Robertson/UC Santa Cruz.
