Cosmic Evolution of the Universe 2014 So researchers use advanced computer simulations to create their own mini-universes. By unleashing the laws of physics within supercomputers, they can study the universe’s evolution and match simulated galaxies to those observed in the real universe. The researchers began their model from initial conditions resembling the very young universe 12 million years after the Big Bang. They then unleashed complex physical laws — the gravitational pull of matter, the chemical processes in diffuse gas, radiation and magnetic fields, as well as the physics of star and black hole formation — onto their simulation, allowing it to evolve for 13 billion years Illustris's simulated volume contains 41,416 galaxies covering a wide range of masses, shapes, and sizes. It’s only a pie slice of the cosmos, but it required supercomputers in France, Germany and the U.S. Had the researchers used a single desktop, the simulation would have needed to run for 500,000 years.
Version 12.4.3.s           10 September 2018