Sergio Martin-Alvarez
Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
KIPAC - Stanford University
Azahar Simulations
Visualization 1: zoomed-in views of one of the Azahar large galaxies, forming with standard hydrodynamics (top left), calibrated hydrodynamics (top right), radiation and magnetism (bottom left) and 'full-physics' (bottom right; radiation, magnetism and cosmic rays).
Azahar is a large simulation suite of 10 cosmological simulations spanning different combinations of physical processes, ranging from standard hydrodynamics up to two 'full-physics' simulations including radiative transfer, cosmic rays and magnetohydrodynamics. These simulations build upon my Pandora project (Martin-Alvarez et al. 2023), which served as a pathfinder to explore these physics in detail using high-resolution cosmological simulations of single dwarf galaxies.
By featuring all possible combinations of these physics, in addition to an artificially calibrated model, Azahar provides the perfect framework to investigate and understand the impact of each physical component, as well as their complex interplay.
Azahar will be introduced in early 2025 (Martin-Alvarez et al. in prep.), with its preliminary results already revealing a unique capability to naturally reproduce and solve new mysteries about the first galaxies revealed by JWST observations (Callum, Laporte, Martin-Alvarez, et al. 2024; Dome, Martin-Alvarez, Tacchella, et al. 2024). If you are interested in the models or want to contribute, please feel free to get in touch with me directly.
The Azahar simulation initial conditions feature a 25 cMpc per side cubic box, with a central zoom region of approximately 10 · 8 · 8 cMpc³, where the resolution reaches 20 physical parsecs (or ~10pc, if you think in particle terms). In this region, for which you can see the innermost central region on the visualization shown at the right (Visualization 2), each run forms several hundreds of galaxies, encompassing a sub-volume of the IGM that allows exploring the role of the various combinations of physics featured in each model.
You can find a summary of the included physics in each model in Table 1 (below), and I would refer you to the original Pandora project paper I (Martin-Alvarez et al. 2023) if you want more details about the physical configuration and implementation, where models preserve the same naming convention (without the included of '+SfFb').
Visualization 2: large-scale view showing the inner region of the Azahar zoom. Colours show the cosmic rays (green) and magnetic fields (purple) in one of the 'full-physics' simulations.
Galaxies Showcase
Table 1: Suite of simulated models. Columns indicate from left to right the unique symbol and label to identify each simulation, whether the simulation models magnetic fields, whether the model includes on-the-fly radiative transfer, whether it includes cosmic rays, the stellar feedback configuration, and a short set of further details for each simulation. From top to bottom, each run increases in complexity by including additional physics and components.
