DEUS | FORMATION OF THE UNIVERSE

DEUS | FORMATION OF THE UNIVERSE

For the first time ever , scientists have simulated how matter has evolved in the entire observable universe , from the Big Bang to the present day .

At the Meudon observatory ( France ) , Jean-Michel Alimi and team are trying to understand how the universe was formed and what causes cosmic expansion , as part of the DEUS ( Dark Energy Universe Simulation ) FULL UNIVERSE programme .

Besides visible matter and dark matter , there must be another component in the universe that explains its accelerated expansion : dark energy, which is thought to represent more than 75% of the energy in the universe .

Finding out what it is implies understanding its role in cosmic structure formation , and requires calculations far beyond those performed until now . It means creating a numerical simulation of the entire observable universe and not just a fraction of it .

The cosmic structure formation process will take place differently , depending on the nature of the dark energy . The researchers therefore decided to repeat their experiment with three different models of dark energy , each with its own way of structuring the universe . To achieve the necessary processing power , they used one of the world's largest computers , the Curie supercomputer .

A film by Luc Ronat and Jean-Michel Alimi , produced by CNRS Images ( 2013 | 10 minutes )

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