Astronomers create first realistic virtual universe
Move over, “Matrix” — astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called Illustris. Illustris can re-create 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube 350 million light-years on a side with unprecedented resolution. “Until now, no single simulation was able to reproduce the universe on both large and small scales simultaneously,” says lead author Mark Vogelsberger of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who conducted the work in collaboration with researchers at several institutions, including the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies in Germany. These results are being reported in the May 8 issue of the journal Nature. Previous attempts to simulate the universe were hampered by lack of computing power and the complexities of the underlying physics. As a result, those programs were either limited in resolution, or forced to focus on a small portion...