Abstract

The cold dark matter model has become the leading theoretical picture for the formation of structure in the Universe. This model, together with the theory of cosmic inflation, makes a clear prediction for the initial conditions for structure formation and predicts that structures grow hierarchically through gravitational instability. Testing this model requires that the precise measurements delivered by galaxy surveys can be compared to robust and equally precise theoretical calculations. Here we present a simulation of the growth of dark matter structure using 2,160³ particles, following them from redshift z = 127 to the present in a cube-shaped region 2.230 billion lightyears on a side. In postprocessing, we also follow the formation and evolution of the galaxies and quasars. We show that baryon-induced features in the initial conditions of the Universe are reflected in distorted form in the low-redshift galaxy distribution, an effect that can be used to constrain the nature of dark energy with future generations of observational surveys of galaxies.

1. Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, 85740 Garching, Germany
2. Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
3. Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan
4. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8P 5C2, Canada
5. Department of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada
6. Institute of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
7. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
8. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1120, USA
9. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
10. Physics and Astronomy Department, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

Correspondence to: Volker Springel¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to V.S. (Email: vspringel@mpa-garching.mpg.de).

Received 4 January 2005; Accepted 25 March 2005

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