Astrophysics laboratory 2 0800-PATEO2

Part 1: A brief overview of galaxy/large-scale structure formation within a simplified cosmological context will be presented. This course is strongly computational. Topics include: post-CMB power spectrum of Gaussian random fluctuations; 3-torus N-body simulations for non-linear structure formation; dark matter halo detection in N-body simulations; halo/galaxy merger history trees; galaxy formation recipes. Students will be expected to compile and run the corresponding five free-and-open-software (FOSS) programs: Mpgrafic, Ramses, Rockstar, Ctrees/Convertctrees, Sage.

Topics of Part 1:

• statistical representations of the inhomogeneous universe in epochs following the cosmic microwave background epoch, at redshifts well below 1100: the power spectrum of Gaussian random fluctuations;
• cosmological N-body simulations: basic idea, computational strategies, popular method of 3-torus N-body simulations for non-linear structure formation;
• strategies for numerically determining sets of particles in an N-body simulation that can be considered to be dark matter haloes: dark matter halo detection in N-body simulations;
• physical versus numerical definitions of stellar galaxies versus their dark matter haloes and the 1D topology of mergers: halo/galaxy merger history trees;
• gas cooling, reheating, star formation rates, and other components of galaxy formation recipes.