Description

What can computer simulations show us about the creation of our universe? This lecture will describe the steps towards the creation of self-consistent computer simulations of the evolution of the universe, from soon after the Big Bang to the formation of realistic stellar systems like the Milky Way. Creating simulations of this complexity is a multi-scale problem of vast proportions. The first step has been the Millennium Simulation, one of the largest and most successful numerical simulations of the Universe ever carried out. Now we are in the midst of the next step, where this is carried to a much higher level of physical fidelity on the latest supercomputing platforms. Overall, this will illustrate how the role of mathematics is essential in this endeavor, using demonstrations of computer simulations produced in collaboration with Volker Springel. The talk will be preceded by a brief history of the role of supercomputers in enhancing progress in mathematics. Moving through the exciting history of supercomputing, we will touch upon the top supercomputers of its time and its important applications. This will be followed by a stimulating story about a supercomputer simulation that has proven the validity of a theory that was proposed 40 years ago: simulating the evolution of the universe.